Coffee Table Makeover

I mentioned that we've done several projects around here lately, and I wanted to post pictures of them. I know not everyone is interested in this kind of thing, but I happen to love decorating/home/DIY type posts, and I like having a record of all of the changes we make to our house, so I'm going to post about our projects. We haven't done anything major, but lots of little changes can make a big difference. Over the past little while, my style has kind of started to evolve. These days, I'm drawn to a cottage/shabby chic look. I'm loving painted and distressed furniture more than ever these days. I'm literally looking around my house wondering what I want to paint next. Ha! I'm by NO MEANS an expert on painting furniture (ha! so far from it...), but I am able to achieve a look I'm happy with, so that's all that matters :) Plus, it's SO practical with kids... it doesn't bother me at all when they bang on the furniture and/or spill stuff all over it ;) My most recent project was painting our coffee table. This coffee table was a hand-me-down from my grandparents, and I've been meaning to paint it since we first got it. I finally just bit the bullet and did it recently. It started out just fine.... it was a pretty table, but I felt like everything in our living room was just brown, and I was kind of over it.

First, I gave it a good sanding.

 Then I used leftover paint that we already had. I used a cream color and painted the whole table.

I wasn't really loving the way it was turning out. For some reason, you could see major brush strokes, and that was driving me insane. I tried some light distressing on the top, and it just looked awful. So, David and I got out the power sander and sanded the top down again. I couldn't figure out what to do next, and then I remembered some leftover blue paint we had from when we painted the nursery ceiling. I decided to give that paint a try. I did a light coat on the top of the table only. It went on much better than the cream, and I left some of the wood showing though.

Then I gave it a light sanding and finished the whole thing off with some tea stain.

 The finished product is not really what I originally had in mind, but I really like it! The blue top is SUPER subtle, but I like the slight contrast between the blue top and the cream pedestal.

 I think the table looks much better in the room now. I can't show pictures of the whole room yet, because we've done a few other projects that I want to post about first :) We're also planning on painting the living room/kitchen, but that's kind of a huge project, so we're trying to mentally prepare for that. Ha! But, anyway, I'm so happy with my coffee table transformation, and I'm glad I was able to use things I already had. I love a good, free project!