| Trash-to-Treasure Table |
From "Ask DIY"
episode ADI-101 |
|
|
|
advertisement
|
Q: I found an old table at a garage sale that is now sitting in my garage. I don't want to stain it. I would love to find a way to paint it, but I'm afraid of ending up with something that looks even worse. Can Nancy help?
A: (Nancy Golden, Decorating Expert) You can make a beautiful piece from it by using Scandinavian colors, those creams, ivories and blues with water values. Part of the technique is glazing. Here's how I achieved this look on a $10 flea-market find: Materials:
Castoff wooden table
Latex primer
Wedgewood-blue latex paint
Wide brush
Stencils with Scandinavian-look patterns
Brushes to stencil and paint trim
Spray adhesive
Dark-blue paint for stencils
Gold paint for trim - Before priming and painting the table, start out with a "demo board," which is just trade talk for an experimental paint job that allows you to make mistakes on a sample board, not the furniture. Paint half of it with latex primer and the other half with a Scandinavian-look Wedgewood blue. Once it's dry, it's ready for glazing.
- Mix some glazing compound, which you can buy at a craft store, with some paint. You'll decide what ratio of compound to paint you want to use. Play around with the ratios, keeping in mind that the more compound you use, the more translucent the glaze will be. Use a three-to-one ratio if you want the Wedgewood blue to shine through the compound and look watery.
Buyer's guide: Buy a half-gallon of glazing compound at the paint store if you're going to glaze a large piece -- it's cheaper. - Mix the color with a wide brush. Then scrape the bristles against the side of the compound dish to remove most of the compound mixture (figure A), afterward dabbing more color off on a paper towel.
- Apply the glaze to the surface with long brushstrokes, all in one direction. Start by brushing away from you, then bring the brush all the way back and so on until you've completed the entire surface (figure B). The glaze should look streaked.
- To finish off the table, spray a stencil with stencil adhesive, and fasten it to the top of the table, in this case at the corner. Use a darker shade of blue paint, and stencil the pattern by dabbing. Use a couple of coats if you need to, rather than glopping on too much paint. Repeat the stencil in all the corners.
- Dip a brush into gold paint and paint the edges. If you like, make a few dots to accent the stencils by dipping the handle of a tiny brush into the paint (figure C).
Working smarter: Buy a brush that's precisely the width of your table's trim. More questions for Nancy: Q: After I paint a table, what's the best way to clean it?
A: Seal any kind of hand painting with a coat of polyurethane. This will allow you to dust with a soft cloth or clean with mild soap and water. Just make certain you don't use anything abrasive, like a scrubbing sponge, on your handiwork.
Q: A design question for Nancy: Is it okay that my end tables don't match?
A : Yes, it's okay! You don't want to go way overboard, and have an antique wood table with a contemporary glass table. But you can have, for example, two different tables in the same tone of wood, or two contemporary tables with different types of legs. Or you could have one table that's fabric-covered and another that's three-legged, on a pedestal. Have some fun with it!
Q: Do you have any ideas for unique end tables that I might already have in my home?
A: Try stacking vintage suitcases and putting glass on top, or flip a planter and top it with glass or a mosaic-tile top. And you can always throw a piece of fabric over a beat-up old chest and then put glass on top of the cloth. Web site resources for refinishing tables: www.homerformby.com/contents.htm
www.learnfree-home.com/refinishing/
www.furniturewizard.com/
www.learnfree-home.com/refinishing/tips.html
www.furniturefixer.com/tiparkiv.htm
Book: Painting & Decorating Tables
by Phillip C. Myer
North Light Books
1507 Dana Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45207-1005
P-1-513-531-2690 (1997)
E-mail: datac@fwpubs.com
| 
)
)
)
)
