‘Kay, so here we go again! I saw this coffee table at Goodwill last week and the potential screamed out to me! Even though I did not need a new coffee table and even though I could barely fit it into my car (I should just buy a moving truck – really. It would be a lot more practical).


Anyway, so I brought this smelly, scratched up, greasy table home and plopped it in the driveway. Hubs just shook his head when he saw it.


So yesterday I started on the over-haul.

**Ok, so now I know what you’re thinking. “Why is this girl spending her time with junk like this? She hardly has enough time in her day to take care of the kids, keep up with her job, keep the house reasonably clean, and most of the time she feels like she’s losing her mind!”

I know! But I’m telling you, stuff like this inspires me! If I don’t take the time to create something or to make something beautiful, I just feel like a blob. A complete BLOB. Like I’m not doing what I’m meant to be doing. Does that make sense?

Anywaaay, moving right along. I took the legs off and sanded the table and legs, then put a coat of B-I-N primer on it. This is my all-time favorite primer (can’t believe I just said that! I sound like a construction worker or something! What a dork!).

It covers anything and everything. And since it’s so thin, a little bit of it goes a long way. And it dries super fast. It’s not water-based, so I usually use an old brush and throw it away when I’m done with the project.


Here it is after I’m done priming…
After the primer dried, I painted the table with a couple coats of leftover semi-gloss paint that I had laying around.

To glaze the table, I mixed some paint conditioner that I had on hand called Floetrol with some dark brown acrylic craft paint. I used a foam brush to smear the brown paint into the cracks of the table, then used a rag to wipe the excess.


And here it is now! Not perfect, but certainly much better than it was when I first saw it!




It’s amazing what a difference paint can make to just about anything! Although my mom has warned me that I am not allowed to paint my children! Oh, mom, I would never go that far! (ahem)

So, guess how much this entire project cost me. C’mon, you know you want to!

A grand total of $6.97.

Yes, that is it!! That’s how much the table cost at Goodwill and I used leftover paint that I already had from past projects.

Just for kicks, I looked at this table from Pottery Barn, which is pretty similar…

PB’s price is $399. I saved $392.03!!

I really must go shopping with all that extra cash I now have! HA!!


July 29, 2009 — Aimee Weaver