A Mini Makeover

If you read my last post...yes, I'm still working on the armoire and side table custom job.  In fact, it's done, except my friend (and boss!), who I'm doing the makeover for has ordered the knobs she wants from Pottery Barn and the wrong color arrived, so just waiting on those for the final reveal!

In the meantime, I found (yes, found) this side table on the side of the road.  One half of me is incredibly embarassed to admit this, yet the other half of me is so impressed that a better deal is not possible.  Do any of my dear friends think less of me for rescuing (grabbing) old discarded furniture from trash piles??  How about this one?  Sorry to admit, I stripped the top before I realized I forgot my "before" pic, but I think you get the point:

Pretty sad, huh?  I still for the life of me can't figure out why people throw wood furniture away, I mean, come on people, just call me! 

Don't be jealous ladies, as romantic as it sounds, my darling husband bought me an orbital sander for Christmas.  Score!  Yeah, I'm weird.  If you would have asked me 2 years ago what I would have thought about that, I'd have a completely different reaction.  But, it was one of my favorite gifts...next to the Keurig.  I slapped an 80 grit sandpaper circle on it and the top was stripped of all stain and poly in seconds. 

I stained the top with 3 coats of Minwax Polyshades in an Antique Walnut color.  I like this because you don't have to stain, then poly afterwards.  I don't have all day to wait and because the Polyshades alone takes 6 hours in between coats with some steel wool scrubbing, that's all my patient nature can take!

I also had my ASCP Louis Blue on hand so I put on a coat and let dry.  One coat was plenty, no sanding, no priming.  Good stuff.  I distressed it heavily, and topped it with my AS clear wax.  Then, as a final finsh, I had an extra glass knob leftover from a package I had bought for another project. 

And, once again, made my husband look twice and even remark about keeping it!

The really good thing about this table (besides being free) is that it's small and can fit in any of those hard to fit places that are just dying for some extra storage or a place to set your glass.