Coffee Table Facelift

Finally! I’ve been working on this small change to our coffee table since June, but being the procrastinator that I am, just got it done in time for New Year’s.

Here’s our coffee table now:

And here it was before:

I know, it’s not the biggest change ever, but I love the new look. It fits a lot better into our new, lighter living room scheme.

I got this coffee table quite a few years ago from Ashley Furniture and I love it because it’s on wheels and the top slides open.

Isn’t that awesome? You can get to the storage inside without having to lift open a lid, meaning you can leave all your junk on the top of the table.

But like I said, I wanted it to blend a little better with all the lighter colors I’m using now, so painting the black metal seemed like a good option.  The coffee table still looks rustic/industrial, but blends with all the satin nickel finishes we have a little better.

I got out some Rustoleum Painter’s Touch Brushed Metallic Paint in Platinum that I bought for something else, a foam brush, and some painter’s tape.

Then I began the tedious job of taping everything off. Prep work is always terrible and boring, but it’s the most important for good results!

Then I brushed on 2-3 light coats of the paint, varying my brush stroke directions to make everything look purposefully uneven and like real brushed metal.

The first coat was pretty thin and you could still see the black through it.

But after I put on 1 or 2 more coats, it was nice and silver.

All that taping and waiting for coats to dry was tedious and I watched a lot of Murder, She Wrote.  (Thank you, Netflix.)

Then, to keep with the rustic/weathered feel of the table, (and to hide any mistakes and imperfections), I got out some Rustoleum American Accents Antique Pewter top coat (that came with a spray paint kit) to add some antiquing.

I varied between brushing it on and wiping it off with a paper towel, and sort of dabbing it on with a paper towel and wiping off with one, too. It was all very imprecise but I liked the look I was getting.

I did have some yucky mishaps. Whether it’s because I am a terrible taper (which is entirely possible) or because of the finish on the table (did I wipe it down with too much Pledge?) I got a lot of bleed through in some places.

Ugh. I had to painstakingly, carefully scrape that all off with a razor scraper. What a pain! Some places came out very clean, but there was enough like this that I said bad words. I even tried Frog Tape with similar results. (That’s why I wonder if it was me/the finish on the table.)  Luckily, since I was antiquing it, I just used some of the darker paint to hide spots where I couldn’t get all of the silver paint off of the wood, so I still love the finished product. I just want to share the reality of the project!

Then, after I painted, scraped, and antiqued all four sides, I left the top looking basically like this for 5 months.

Because I am terrible.

But I finally finished it all! And I couldn’t be happier. Here it is again, with a little more living room in the background, so you can see how good it looks. ;)

Have you finally finished any projects lately? Like me, just in time for your New Year’s shindig?