Pieces in progress

Despite the inactivity here on The Friendly Home blog, I've actually been pretty busy during Christmas break. Here are a few of the projects I've been working on.



I wish I had some before photos I could show you of these tables. They were atrocious. Whitewashed plasticky oak, only $10 each at Goodwill (which is how you know they were really trashy...my Goodwill is usually pricey). The center panel was damaged beyond repair, so I knocked it out with my mallet, wrapped it in this cool black, grey, and white fabric that I found in the remnants area at Hancock Fabrics, and then screwed it back in using pocket holes. Now I'm working on cutting some matching trim and then I'll drop in glass to cover the fabric. I think the tables are turning out super cute.

Here's the 411 on their finish: primed with dark brown tinted VOC-free primer from Sherwin-Williams, painted with Pittsburgh Gray CeCe Caldwell paint, waxed with clear Staples wax. I'll get some better shots of the tables when they're totally done, so you can get a better idea of what the finish looks like. These babies will be up for sale at the new Sweet Pea Boutique in Fountain, Colorado. The store is set to open on January 19th!

The next project I've been working on is this Hunt trestle table and benches.

These pieces have been in my garage waiting for some love for a good two months now. They were in reasonably good shape, but the top of the table was pretty beat up and cracked and needed to be filled, so it wasn't a project worth stripping and re-staining.

Scott is disappointed (that's an understatement) that I painted them yellow, but we can always go back over them with a different color. I was tired of being indecisive and I had the yellow paint lying around, so I just went for it. These, like the tables above, also got a coat of dark brown primer first. The paint I used is a VOC-free oops paint from Sherwin-Williams, so I'm not sure of the color. In order to make it distress more easily, I added some watered-down drywall compound to the paint before working with it. I wanted to see how it would compare to using CeCe Caldwell Chalk Paint.

The verdict? Meh. It does sand better than latex paint, but it doesn't rub off with a wet sponge like CeCe's paint. It also doesn't cover as well as her paint -- this took three coats, although I probably should have just done two so that I could see more of the brown underneath. It does sand down to a super smooth finish, but only on a super smooth surface.

This table will go in my kitchen for a while...until I have time to build myself a new dining table. Then we may replace the top with something bigger and put it outside on our new patio.

Lastly...a free drop-leaf table that a friend passed on to me.

This is a beautiful table with great lines, but the top was pretty beat up and not refinish-able. At least, not without hours and hours of time that I don't have. So it got the same brown primer and yellow paint treatment as the Hunt table and benches above. I love the metal feet on this table -- I need to grab some Brasso today to bring them back to life.

Like the end tables up top, this table will also be for sale at the new Sweet Pea boutique in Fountain!