Wood planked coffee table

Hey hey all! It’s about time to get some DIY going up in here! With the family room under construction, our blogging conference a couple weeks ago and just basic summer slug-ness, I haven’t done much lately.

I’ll have plenty to do starting later this week – the big stuff is almost done in the family room. Then it’s my turn. :)

We haven’t had a coffee table in that room for a while – I took out our square one about a year ago and loved how open it felt, so it stayed that way. (It now lives at my sister’s.)

When I moved the furniture around to the way I’ll have it when all the construction is done I realized I really wanted one again. But I needed it to be long and skinny. I don’t have any long and skinny so I’ve kept my eye out for something that might work.

A few weeks back I found this at a local antique/thrift shop and it had me at WHEELS:

You know how I love wheels. They are my jam.

The top of the table was a mess though, and I couldn’t figure out what to do with it as I stood there, so I left it. (No returns so I had to make sure it would work.)

Fast forward a few weeks and I couldn’t get that table out of my head. I went back, it was still there and it came home with me. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with the top but I had to have it.

Initially I was thinking of sanding it down lightly and restaining the damaged parts, but when I got it home and took a closer look I realized it was a real mess:

 

I thought about keeping the leather top – for a minute. Then I got it cleaned off and saw it was beyond repair. The leather was cracked, which didn’t really bother me. But it also had paint and what looked like burn marks on it as well. And when I got it cleaned off I realized it was a very unattractive puke-brown color. Not so sad I couldn’t salvage it after that. :)

We have enough natural wood in the family room anyway, so my next plan was to paint it. I turned it over and realized I could take the top off:

Then I cleaned the heck out of the thing:

Grody. I lightly sanded it to get more grime off:

Then took it outside to spray prime it -- I just used a basic gray primer. By the way, I mention this a lot but it’s worth saying again – make sure to clean any piece you’re going to spray paint! If you don’t you’ll get the dreaded crackle.

I picked up another gray spray paint called silver fox by Valspar for the main color – I figured it would be easiest with the detail on the table.

Outside it looked decent, but when I brought it in I realized it was BLUE. Like, baby blue. What the??:

ARGH. Spray paint lids not matching the color are quickly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves. DIYer probs.

So I grabbed some chalk paint, which is what I should have done from the start. (But I still would have primed – these reddish stains can bleed through.) I used my CeCe Caldwell gray that I already had:

I shared my thoughts on this paint and how to apply it here – I really love these paints. It dries much lighter:

But when you apply the wax it gets richer and darker. I did have issues with the wax this time though, more on that in a minute.

I came up with a plan for the new tabletop – first I grabbed some scrap luan and cut it size with my jigsaw. I stained it just in case you’d see it under the new tabletop:

I used my nail gun to nail it into the edges where the old top sat. You can see there how much darker the chalk paint gets when you apply the wax by the way.

Then I used some very thin boards from Lowe’s (they are called craft boards) that I stained dark walnut by Minwax (one of my favorite colors):

 

The boards were more than I planned to spend but I needed a very specific thickness and they also had to be decent, stainable wood.

I put a little bit of glue down on the luan and then laid the craft boards down:

And nailed them in as well:

I took the old tabletop with me to the hardware store so I was able to find a combination of boards that fit the top almost perfectly. These boards aren’t all the same size – two are the same, the other two are different sizes. It didn’t bother me and I actually like that they aren’t all the same:

I’m not thrilled with how that skinny board stained up – I used conditioner on all of them and that one doesn’t look as good as the others. But it looks rustic…that’s what I’m going with for anyway. If it bugs me I’ll replace it. Or live with it. :)

The top is super smooth – I stood back when I was done and was SO happy with how it turned out:

I LOVE it:

The sectional will be moved soon so ignore the rug placement and all – this will get flipped to face the fireplace when the TV can be moved over. Hoping this week!

WHEELS:

I’m bugged out by the wax this time – this wax has done this the past two times I’ve used it. It gets blotchy and doesn’t dry well in some spots. Most of it looks great – it’s just certain areas. Usually this happens when you use too much, but I wiped this sucker well so I know it’s not that.

It’s frustrating because I’m going to have to sand down a couple spots and do another coat of paint and wax to correct it. But I LOVE the look – the dark wood combined with the gray is luscious. So it will be worth it. :)

There were a few issues along the way but I ended up with a coffee table I love in just the right size. The table was $20 and I spent about $25 on wood (those smaller pieces get expensive!) – not bad at all! Don’t overlook those pieces that are a mess – they can be turned into beauties!

Have you made over any messes lately?

Easy art knock off

Hey hey! Happy Friday! I have a quick and easy knock off for you today! I’ve been thinking more about what I’ll be hanging on the walls in our master bedroom…after I finish painting all of them. Who knows how long that will be. Could be years. But whatever.

It’s the one room in our house with a TON of wall space – and it’s hard to figure out what to put everywhere. I struggle with making all the walls work together.

Lately I’ve seen a lot of this art at HomeGoods and it always catches my eye:

Over the past few months I’ve seen a bunch of these at two different locations and I love them. I picked up some coral art for the room at Target months back and these would look great with it. But I didn’t want to $40 on one, especially when I knew it would be so easy to recreate. :)

So that I did! I picked up a square frame at HG for $8:

The look was exactly the same, it’s just about eight inches smaller on each side.

I wanted to pull in some color so I cut navy blue scrapbook paper and taped it to the back of the mat:

I’ve had some shells for years that I knew would work in the middle. I tried out a few and liked both of these:

 

But ended up with one a little simpler – a sweet little starfish. :)

I ended up spray painting the frame white, but then changed direction and threw some more color on there with a navy blue again. (I blogged about my blue spray paint taste test here.)

It was quick and easy and cost me $8. Not too shabby!:

Once I get the walls painted (a light gray) and get that small gallery wall going I think it will be a great little addition! My version doesn’t have the glass on top, but I have a plan in mind to make it look more like the inspiration art. (More of a shadow box look.)

I’ll let you know if it works when the wall is put together! First up…painting the room! Good times.

Have a great weekend my friends!

Spray paint blues

Hey hey! I have a little taste test for you today! OK, not taste – don’t eat the spray paint. But a comparison of sorts. I told you about the blue desk for my office earlier this week. The one that I didn’t like in it’s blue state, at least in that room. I actually did love it in a more saturated tone than it’s before color – sometimes I find a deeper color shows off the detail better.

One of you commented that the desk, that was supposed to be navy blue, looked more like cobalt blue (a brighter tone). I totally agree – I even noticed it when I was painting but was hoping it would look different out of the bright sunlight.

It didn’t. :) Totally cobalt.

OK, here’s the thing – at first I tried the same navy blue on it that I used on my bedroom lamps:

And it was SO bright. It didn’t look like the same color in the least. I ended up using a different blue that looked a lot more navy, but when I compared the two inside they look like entirely different colors.

So I did a little test – first off, to show that the color on the cap of a spray paint can will sometimes look different than what you get when you spray. Secondly, a color in one spray paint will be different in another. I also noticed a big difference in coverage when I did this as well. 

I grabbed five blues out of my stash to do this little test and used some primed scrap wood:

So if you looked at this and looked at my lamps, I’m guessing you’d say the middle one is the paint I used, right?

Even I was surprised. I had to look back at my lamp post to see which one I used, and it was actually the blue second from the right:

Who would’ve thunk it? Here’s the first thing I noticed when I did this -- I love the HUGE selection of colors that Krylon offers but the coverage isn’t great. I never really noticed till I did it right next to others but it sprays very thin and doesn’t cover nearly as well as the others.

I did two coats of each color and the Krylon colors dripped every time:

Due to it spraying so thin I think – it just didn’t cover well, at least compared to some others.

Here’s the other thing – the colors can look much different when you spray. The Stonewash Denim cap on the left has a blue gray tone to it but is straight gray when you spray it. It’s hard to tell in the pics because it actually matches the color of the cap better than some of the others. But I bought this a while back thinking it would have more of a blue tone like the cap and it doesn’t.

The Valspar on the right, called Deep Sea Diving, is another one that is different than the cap. The cap looks like more of a peacock blue color and it sprays a definite cobalt blue.

Here’s the other three close up – note that the one on the left and the one in the middle are both a glossy navy blue:

Can you believe the difference? At the risk of sounding like a Rustoleum commercial, it covered SO much better. (I did two coats of each color.) And to me it looks like a true navy blue, right? The Krylon in the middle is what I used on our lamps and I was actually quite surprised when I looked back and figured that out.

You can see where it dripped a ton too. It would take a good four coats to get good coverage on this white. But as I mentioned, I used it on our lamps and didn’t have any issues. And the navy blue on the lamps is a perfect navy to me, so it will just take more coats to get that true color.

But more coats means using more paint, so that’s something to consider. I used nearly two cans to do the desk and I imagine it would take double that to get good coverage with the Krylon.

The color on the end is one called Mountain View and I’ve used it on a few things over the years. The color on the cap is pretty true to the color. It’s a nice light blue that leans ever-so-slightly gray.

Here’s a close up of the board so you can see the coverage (I shook them all for a few minutes before spraying):

Again, as far as being true to the color on the cap, Rustoleum wins. Coverage-wise, Valspar and Rustoleum did well. But I’ve used the two Krylon colors at the bottom and had no complaints at the time – it was only when I sprayed next to others that I noticed how thin it sprays.

I know it’s impossible to match the color of the paint to the cap exactly, but many of the colors I’ve used are a pretty darn good match. What’s frustrating is if you get it home and spray and it’s not what you thought, you’re stuck with it. You can’t return it after you’ve used it. That’s how you build up a ridiculous spray paint collection. ;)

Do you have a brand of spray paint that you love? A color that is your go-to? Are you still afraid to spray? If so, check out this post for helpful tips!

Desk do over

Hello all! Hope your weekend and holiday was wonderful! Our Easter ended up being a lot more low key than we planned and it was great! My boy played outside pretty much all day long yesterday and it was fabulous – this is the weather we’ve been waiting for!

So the project I’m sharing today was frustrating – sometimes you put a lot of time into something and it ends up not working. Well, it may work great – but it just isn’t what you envisioned. It’ll make more sense in a bit. :)

I mentioned last week that I’d like a smaller desk in my office. We have a couple options in the house that I thought would work as a replacement – I tried the first and it was way too big (too long). The second was this small desk I got from HomeGoods years back:

In that spot it was mostly decorative – you can tell by the height of the chair that there wasn’t a lot of leg room there to sit. The desk was low and the middle section was in the way. I tried a couple different chairs and that one is actually the only one low enough for it – the desk just isn’t made to function I guess? (Which I didn’t realize till getting hit home and taking off all the tags, of course.) Weird.

So I pulled it into the office to see if I liked the size. It’s about half the width of my current table and I LOVED how it opened up the space. I actually placed it at an angle in the room and loved how it looked in there.

But as I mentioned, I couldn’t really sit at it. So I did some checking – first to see how much I would need to raise the desk to make it work for me. Then I looked at the legs closer and figured out that everything came off easily – the feet first, then the cross bars:

Then I was able to take the legs off as well. This was going so well! :)

I ran to the hardware store and grabbed a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 board – when I got home I cut it down to size and installed it on the bottom of the desk:

Then I reinstalled these little doodads that the legs screwed into:

I was making a mess, as you can see. :)

So far so good – it was actually going fast and easy and I put the legs back on and the height was great!

Little issue. When I sit at my desk I rarely sit with two legs on the floor. I pull them up and tuck them under, or sit criss cross, whatever – I LOVE to have my legs up. Because of that I need extra space under the desk that normally wouldn’t be needed. My current table/desk works great because it has a small apron that doesn’t get in the way of my legs.

I tried sitting at the desk as it was but couldn’t handle not being able to pull my legs up. It’s my thing I guess. So…plan B happened. It got ugly before it got better:

I cut the middle section away with a jigsaw (it was just thin particle board) – not all the way back, but enough for my legs to be able to fit in. The photo above was a rough cut – I evened it all out and then used some small trim molding to cover up the rough edges.

It actually worked out great! I wanted to paint the desk anyway so these changes weren’t any big deal. The painting is where things went downhill. ;)

We took it outside so I could spray paint it – with all the detail on the legs and the grooves in the top I knew that would be the best option. I sanded it down lightly first, then spray primed it, then started painting the final color.

I loved my navy blue lamps in the master bedroom so much, I figured a navy blue desk would look great. My office is light but I thought having more of a statement in the desk would work.

It did not. :)

I didn’t even take pics of it in the room – we put it in there and I had to pull it back out immediately. HATED it. Don’t hate the desk, hate in in the room:

Did I mention I ran to the hardware store ten minutes before closing to get more spray paint cause I ran out? And then the color didn’t even work. GAH. (I wasn’t 100 percent sold on it outside in the sun but thought it would look different inside.)

And the spray paint covered really crappy. It can get a cloudy look if you don’t apply it just so – this was user error though. When you’re painting smaller projects this won’t happen as badly because it’s easier to get good coverage. With larger furniture it’s hard to get it just right.

Thing is, both the new height and the cut out turned out great, and I love how the changes look!:

The color is just all kinds of wrong. :) I actually like the navy on the desk, I just think it needs to be a deeper blue.

I’m determined to use it somewhere though – I have a couple spots in mind for it as is (I’ll touch up the uneven spray paint if it works). If I don’t like the blue I’ll be painting it, again. :)

One thing I’ve learned – I’ll need to stick with the table-as-desk idea, for the way I work…err, sit. I’ve been searching on Craigslist here and there for months and haven’t found anything that would work.

Something like this on a smaller scale would be ideal:

I’ve been thinking lately I could just DIY something, since the size I want is so specific:

(source)

And then I came across this small table from IKEA:

It’s a little plain but only $40 and the perfect size. I think I’m leaning towards making something though. We will see!

All I know is the desk will NOT be navy blue. :) Live and learn. Most of the time I put into this project was spray painting – extending the legs only took about 30 minutes.

All in all not a complete waste, so I can’t be too bummed about it. For now I continue to sit at my gigantor table/desk in my office with my legs crossed. :)

Have you had any projects that didn’t turn out the way you envisioned? I happens to all of us at some point! Were you able to salvage it?

Updated 80’s light fixture

Hey hey! I’m back with a project that I let sit around for nearly two years. It’s been moved around the house – the garage for a while, then it’s future home (the dining room/library) for the past year or so. Just sitting there. For a year.

It was time. I found this light fixture at the Habitat Restore almost two years ago, even before I finished up the bookcases in the dining room:

It was $20 and I loved the shape so I snagged it up!

I think the main reason I let it sit so long was the work that I knew would go into transforming it. Meaning taping all that off to paint it. Bleh. Not fun.

I pulled out my rub n buff first, thinking I may be able to get away with no taping off and spray paint. But the dark color I had was dried as hard as a rock, I couldn’t get any out of the tube. Wah wahh. So I knew I’d have to spray paint it. I did consider just leaving it – the brass didn’t horrify me. :) But I wanted it to stand out more and I knew a darker color would make that happen. And the brass looked fine in some areas and horrible in others, so it needed to be covered.

It came apart into two pieces and I cleaned it well:

This one helped:

Then it was time to tape all that off. I came up with an idea that helped though! I just laid the painter’s tape down over the glass and then used my razor to “cut out” each one:

It worked GREAT. I timed myself and it took one hour and 15 minutes to tape off the whole thing:

That’s 64 sections in one hour and fifteen minutes, so not too shabby! And when you’re sitting in front of the TV watching Flipping Out the whole time it’s really not too bad. :)

About half way through I realized the inside would still be brass, but you pick your battles. No way was I going to try to do the inside. So it’s still brass, but you can’t even tell.

I took it and the smaller pieces outside (YAY for spray paint weather!!) and primed them with black primer, then sprayed them in oil rubbed bronze spray paint (I’ve tried them all and all look great). Then I hung the light part in the garage and sprayed it the same way:

Those white sleeves were brittle and falling apart so I just kept them on to protect the electrical stuff while I painted.

By the way, I don’t always prime my metal light fixtures – it’s not something that’s going to get wear and tear. But I was almost out of my ORB spray paint so I wanted to make sure it had a dark base.

When the parts were dry to the touch (about an hour later), I installed it inside:

The chandelier we’ve had in here has looked odd to me since we started the transition to a library instead of a dining room. (Read more about that here.) Our old kitchen table still sits in here, only because we haven’t made the new furniture a priority. (Four matching chairs isn’t going to be cheap!)

Anyway, the old light was too detailed for this space and I wanted something a bit simpler. I think the darker paint makes this light look a million times better!:

Eventually I may get something else (I’ve had my eye on another light for a long time now) but for now the $20 one that’s been laying around for years works GREAT. :) I won’t do anything until we get the furniture for this space anyway.

Part of the reason I finally got this done is because I’ve been wanting to move the chandelier that was in dining room to the bedroom:

I’ve had another Habitat light up there for years but I wasn’t loving it anymore – and it was just a place holder till I could get a chandelier in there. :) This worked out perfectly!

The chandelier was from Home Depot and I got it because it was so similar to the Pottery Barn version, for about $200 less:

(PB: source, HD: source)

I LOVE this light! It is gorgeous in the master bedroom:

I’ve been planning to use this one in there since I finished up the bookcases in the library, so it’s nice to finally get it installed!

So there you go – a $20 light, spray paint season is BACK and a little light switcharoo! I feel like I got two lights for less than $25 – I had to get new white sleeves for the dining room light so that added a few bucks. And when you buy the light two years ago, does that even count? :)

Have you spray painted a light fixture lately? It’s amazing what paint will do to help update them!