A Third Life

So far, my living room tables have had three lives: once with their first owner, another with me for the past two years, and its current life after a much needed makeover.  They are sassier now; you can just tell.

Sometimes, you have to have the willpower of a steam engine to get anything done.  My table makeovers may have not required a penchant for creativity, but I made up for it with stubborn determination.  What do you do with a three-year-old and a not-quite-one-year-old when you've gotta get the job done?  You let the big one ride his bike and big wheel in front of the house, and alternate the baby between the pack 'n' play and the walker.  They were actually great companions.

You can see from the background of my picture that while prepping for paint, "someone" came to do yard work (and also blow bits of grass and leaves everywhere).  Gotta laugh.

I kept the bottoms a slightly metallic gray.  They were showing some wear.  Rather than try to make them look new (I love the color), I decided to later distress the tops.  Let's be honest; in my house they're going to end up in distress anyway.  Center glass was removed.    And that brings up my only misgivings about painting these pieces...  How would they look with light wood when the glass is a smoked color?  But, I press on anyway.
After one coat of primer and three coats of ivory spray paint ($12 total, thank you, Hobby Lobby clearance), I brought them in for a bit of sanding to age a bit.  And, WOW, these tables were MEANT to be light all along.  Thanks to my friend Laura Goins (http://www.lauragoins.blogspot.com/), for giving me encouragement that it would, in fact, look good in the end.  I love them.

And, speaking of having the willpower of a steam engine, I'd like to say thanks to my hubby.  He, while pressure washing outside the house, didn't let a little broken chain get in the way of finishing the job. Nice work!