This is a story that starts out well, turns ugly, and then turns into something beautiful. The other day, as I was getting ready in the morning, I was admiring my stenciled vanity and wishing I had another furniture project to attempt. I started thinking about the various pieces of furniture around the house and had an A-HA! moment. Hubby’s night stand.
There was nothing “wrong” with it {well, except for a dusty bottom shelf…ahem}, but it didn’t particularly match anything in our room. Plus, I keep trying to add more color in there…the walls are brown, the comforter is white, and our furniture is all wood. A while ago, I decided to add some turquoise, so I made a pillow, and I also made some fun valances and a monogram canvas that helped bring some color in. I thought this would be the perfect project; I could paint and stencil it and give it a whole new look! Here’s the e-conversation hubby and I had on Thursday morning.
Me: “What would you think about me painting/stenciling your night table? {No is okay}.”
Him: “Sure. Go for it, I trust you.”
Did I mention I love that man?!
So, off I went to Michaels and got me some spray paint and acrylic paint. Two days and a whole lot of issues later, I ended up with this:
Here’s how I did it…and all my fails along the way!
NIGHT TABLE REDO
Materials: white spray paint, white and turqouise acrylic paint, sponge brushes, sealer, sandpaper, drawer knob, Cutting Edge craft stencil
STEP 1: First, I painted the entire table and drawer white.
FAIL #1: I’m a terrible spray painter.
I started on the drawer and ended up giving it up because I’m just that bad at it. I think I’m either too close or too far away or too impatient. I keep getting funny bubbles and uneven coating and at this point I thought I was going to have to sand it all off and start over. Fortunately, only the front is really visible when the table is together…
Meanwhile, if you’re a DIY blogger, please don’t ever write in a post, “Oh, then I just spray painted it…” like it’s nothing. You make the rest of us feel inferior. 🙂
Solution #1: I decided to use acrylic paint and a brush instead.
FAIL #2: I ran out of paint.
Since I was planning on spray painting it, all I had was a small, not-full bottle of white paint. It quickly ran out, especially since my table required about 82 coats of paint to fully cover some spots.
Solution #2: Mom to the rescue.
She went to Walmart for me and picked up two huge bottles while I put Little Crafter down for his nap. Then, when she got back, she helped me apply the 82 coats of white paint. Isn’t she a saint?
Whew. Once that part was FINALLY finished, I moved on.
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STEP 2: Paint shelf turqouise.
FAIL #3: My turqouise paint was too dark.
I took a piece of fabric with me to the store so I could match the shade of the curtains I made, but the only one I could find was much darker than what I wanted.
SOLUTION #3: Mix it with white.
I squeezed the whole darn bottle into an old empty vegetable can and mixed it with white until I got the color I wanted.
FAIL #4: My stencil wouldn’t fit.
Originally, I wanted to stencil the shelf as well as the top of the table, but the stencil didn’t want to go in there and no way was I cutting it. It would have been doable, I guess, if I fought with it enough, but I wasn’t in a fighting mood anymore.
SOLUTION #4: I gave up and painted it solid turquoise.
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STEP 3: Stencil the top of the table.
This part actually went fine, thank goodness. Hooray for Cutting Edge Stencils!
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STEP 4: Apply Sealer.
FAIL #5: The sealer made ugly drips and turned my white table brownish in some spots. {can you see it in the pic?}
SOLUTION #5: Touch up ugly spots with white paint, then use a different spray sealer instead.
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STEP 5: Distress.
Can I just say this totally freaked me out?
I’ve never distressed a piece of furniture before, nor did I intend to distress this one. BUT…
FAIL #6: My paint STILL wasn’t fully covering in a few spots.
SOLUTION #6: Distress it and make it look like you meant to do that.
It’s genius, really. So, I pulled out the sandpaper with no idea what I was doing. Fortunately, the table did the work for me. Seriously. I just started going along edges and the carvings, and poof. Like it was meant to be.
And so, here it is! The project I wasn’t sure would be a success turned out to be something I really love.
What a difference, eh? You’ll notice one tiny adjustment…hubby turned the knob horizontally and we both decided we like that better, although I think it works either way.
Now it’s brightening things up in its new home. Although, I confess, not five seconds after I saw it all together, I said, “hmmm…now we need a new lamp.” Hubby just looked at me.
Then he said, “This is a nice lamp.” Boys.
Happy Crafting!
Jaime says
Way to go, so cute!!
Grandma says
I just love it…I think the shelf looks great solid…
Turned out really cute…great job. 🙂
Jessica says
I’ve been wanting to see what happened to the night stand after you shared your conversation with your hubby on facebook. What a good sport! He has a good reason to trust you though; it turned out great!
Marilyn Clark says
GORGEOUS! 🙂
Phil and Darby Hawley says
Amy I love how this turned out!!!! Sorry you had so many roadblocks, but it looks great!
PitterAndGlink says
Beautiful! 🙂
Tammy says
This turned out nice…I am now following you linky.
Full Circle Creations says
Love how it turned out. It looks great.
Holly
Carrie @ My Favorite Finds says
Awesome! But you’re not helping me w my fear of painting furniture :).
Lindsay(PACountryCrafts) says
It looks so great! I love the distressing best of all! 🙂 And you are right- a new lamp would be perfect! 🙂
Kara at Petals to Picots says
Love it! Came out awesome!
Jess from Cox's Corner says
Love it!!
Julie Ann says
I love what you did with this table! The colors are calm and relaxing and the pattern is a nice added touch.
I’d love for you to share this on my new link party, Cooking and Crafts. http://www.jamscorner.com/2012/07/document.html
Have a great evening!
Julie
http://www.jamscorner.com
Terry says
LOL – oh Amy. That’s how all of my projects seem to go and I am totally with you on the spray paint scene. I can’t do it either and I’m sure that it’s impatience. Or technique. I don’t know, but I agree. 🙂
Kimberly @ The Brown Eyes Have It says
Oh what a lot of work and frustration. At least it turned out super cute! I’m not a fan of spray paint either. I made the mistake of my first spray paint project being a set of bunkbeds- huge undertaking and sadly didn’t turn out real well. Oh well, live and learn.
Debi says
Love this. It is so pretty. I have a Blog Hop on Wednesdays, and I would love it if you would link this post tomorrow. You can find it at
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
It is called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop.
I hope to see you there. Have a great Day.
Debi Bolocofsky
Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
Sara says
Absolutely ADORABLE…I love the colors!! Hope you can link this up at my trendy tuesday party!! http://www.sweetlittlegals.com
Tamsyn says
Great make-over! I especially love the stencil on top 🙂
Full Circle Creations says
Thanks so much for sharing this at the All Star Block Party! It really is a great table. And I loved the color!
Holly
marissa says
this turned out great! I hope you’ll stop by and add this and any other posts you’re proud of to my Wednesday What We Wore, Read, and Made Link party
marissa
http://raegunwear.blogspot.com