$7 Thrift Store Coffee Table

Ohhh oh oh, it's magic!  

So, here's how we met. I'm walking through the thrift store here on base, searching for "previously loved" books for my kiddo. I get all involved in this book, which is written in Great Britain, so I mean  obviously while reading it, I am British. Claire has no interest and decides to become a maniac and dart through the store..and then she stops. She stares, and she says..."ohhhhh!" I come up behind her. I stop. I stare (as I'm drooling) "ohhhh!" Sitting before us, underneath a ton of odds and ends, was this precious little oval-topped coffee table. She was a beauty! Surely they weren't selling her.... OH! But they were! I found a $7 price tag, and sure enough, she came home with us that night. One British book and a very much previously loved (a lot) coffee table. Day = made. She needed a little work, but her bones were beautiful.

I decided to go ahead and leave the top of the table the color that it was, because I found it quite lovely. It had a natural distressed look that was just perfect. The bottom, however, was a little too matchy-matchy for my taste and for the feel of the room. She needed some spice. Some sass, if you will. Claire and I started by sanding the base.

We used 150 grit sand paper, mainly because we just wanted the shiny top coat off so that the paint we would put on top of it would stick properly :). After we sanded it, we started painting! I just used a standard white acrylic paint, mixed in a little water to thin it out a bit. [I didn't know I was going to be blogging or else I would have taken more pictures!] We painted TWO coats and let it dry completely. After it was dry, I just got a piece of 150 grit sand paper and started sanding.........sanding wherever I felt needed! Normally I will sand a little bit on every corner, or where the wood curves. [Does that even make sense?!] When we finished the base, I finished it off by sanding around the edges of the top of the table, just to try and blend the whole piece together.

Voila! I wish I had a better picture for you, I will take a few and re-post. I just wanted to really get a start on my blogging! Let me know what you guys think!