Herringbone Table

I got a phone call from Mindy over at Mindy's Classic Finds a couple of weeks ago letting me know she had some furniture in need of a makeover. One of the pieces was a cute little table that had endless possibilities. 

Here it is in all it's finished glory!

You want to see how it started out??

I of course had already started sanding the top smooth. I guess I just get a little too excited every time I meet a new piece of furniture ;)

The top of the table used to have a tray that sat inside which left a perfect spot to do something special. I wanted to try a herringbone pattern but didn't want it to be boring so I went to Pinterest for some inspiration and found this:

{via}

Aren't they awesome? They're originally from an Etsy shop, but either the shop doesn't exist anymore or they're not selling them anymore.

So I got to work painting the table Pure White by Annie Sloan and making a stencil for my pattern. I grabbed a big piece of my kids' craft paper, a pencil and a ruler. I started by marking how long I needed it to be (the length of the table top). Then I marked 2 " & 4" up from the bottom edge of the paper on each end. Then I took a yard stick and made straight lines across. I then marked every 2" across the paper and took a ruler to connect the dots making a big zig zag pattern. Does that make any sense?! Here's a picture of it:

I cut out the big zig zag and placed it on the table about a 1/4" from the top because the table depth wasn't divisible by 4". It was off by half an inch, so I wanted to have an extra 1/4" at each end, understand? No? I'm even confusing myself over here...basically I didn't want to have a nice full zig zag going across the top of the table but then the last zig zag being cut off awkwardly. So I guess I centered it. :)

I traced the zig zag with a pencil and then moved it down and traced again and again and again. Then I took my ruler and made straight lines down the middle of each zig and each zag :)

I painted every other rectangle with 2 coats of French Linen by Annie Sloan. I painted them freehand with a small children's water painting brush from Hobby Lobby. It didn't leave perfect lines but that was okay with me.

Then I distressed. I went to town on all of the legs and edges and every rectangle done in French Linen. I was nervous about that part since they had taken me so long to paint, but I was loving the way it was looking! I then taped off one of the rectangles and painted it with my leftover aqua mixture by Annie Sloan. I wanted this rectangle to be bright and eye catching and have perfectly straight edges. When it was all done I waxed the whole thing with clear wax.

I love it. I adore it. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done....and it looks adorable in my basement. But it's going back to Mindy's store. :) That's okay, I had so much fun painting it that I'd love to do it again sometime.

Here's some picture overload of all the details!

Linking up to:
Knick of Time Interiors
The Blackberry Vine
Not JUST a Housewife
Sugar Bee Crafts
Primitive & Proper
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Domestically Speaking
House of Hepworth's
Two Yellow Birds
Miss Mustard Seed
Funky Junk Interiors
Craft O Maniac

Ikea Malm Hack

Happy Friday!

A client brought me an Ikea 6 drawer Malm dresser a few weeks ago looking to turn it into a piece of furniture with a nautical feeling that had a little more character for her boys' room. We decided to go with the color Napoleonic Blue by Annie Sloan and add some rope knot pulls from Hobby Lobby. So what do you think? 

As you can see from the before pic this was a laminate dresser with no knobs or pulls, very plain and boring! 

I started by making a template of one of the drawers with my kids craft paper. I marked where I wanted to drill the holes for the knobs and then taped the template onto the front of each drawer, one at a time.

I marked a few measurements on the template, as you can see, but I ended up using 5 1/2 inches from each end.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, painting this beast was a pain! ;) My husband came up with the perfect analogy, it was like washing a black car. Just when you think you've covered every spot you look at it from a different angle or in a different light and see a bunch of spots that you missed! I think I painted it about 4 times. 

One of the reasons using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is so great is the fact that sanding and priming are usually not necessary. But I'm learning that in certain cases a little primer can't hurt!! And from now on when painting laminate I think I'll be starting with primer, just for good measure :)

I was afraid that if I tried to distress my paint job the laminate might come right off too. But I figured if that happened I'd just paint over it again, what's one more time at this point, right? ;)

It ended up distressing just fine. The paint pretty much just peeled off in some places when I ran the sandpaper over it with a bit of pressure. Then I waxed the whole thing with clear wax. 

Here's how it turned out!

The color was a little hard to capture on camera. And I have to mention also that when the sun is shining directly on this color it looks much brighter. Just something you might want to know :)

When I work on pieces for clients I get a little nervous. I want so badly to give them exactly what they're hoping for and then some! So I just have to say a huge thank you to my client, Amanda. She was my first real client and even came back with more work, she's recommended me to her friends and been nothing but delightful to work with. She's always cheered me on and encouraged me to go one step further with my new business. She's been such a blessing to me and I will be forever grateful to her!!

I hope you all have a very blessed Easter!

Linking up to:

Miss Mustard Seed

The Rooster and the Hen

Funky Junk Interiors

Too Much Time on my Hands

Under the Table and Dreaming