Making Trash (literally)into a Treasure:before and after photos

How many times do we drive by a pile of trash and say to yourself.."With a little fixing up, that could be a nice piece".

Well, my sister had the eye that day for a table in her next door neighbor's trash pile.  She asked if she could take it (proper trash etiquette)and brought it home. It sat for a year until this past week when I made a trip to redecorate her kitchen (please look for that blog later--it was amazing!)

I immediately saw the potential!

This was the table before:

The legs were cracked and had been painted dozens of times, and the top was marred and had stains on it. This was an old metal table top. It had a metal tag on the side where the drawer was. Looks like about 1940's.

With furniture, I like to work from the top down.

• The first step was to sand the top with a coarse sanding block. Then I applied a Faux Effects product called "Prime Etch". This is a wonderful water-like products that makes any surface paint-able (even glass)

• After the prime etch was set (about 2 hours) I painted it with zinser bin primer using a foam roller to get a nice smooth finish

• When that was dry, I sanded the surface using a fine grit sanding block (you could also use 220 sandpaper) I prefer the blocks because they are easy to hold and they form to any surface because they are foam inside

The right side is etched and primed

• After a second coat of priming and sanding, I painted the top with 2 coats of white latex paint. The lower sheens grab the paint better than gloss. I used Benjamin Moore's eggshell finish, which is bit duller than other eggshell finishes elsewhere.

• After painting I decided to decorate the top with some nice nature designs. I found a modello which is a wonderful, sticky-backed, stencil-like product that comes in a plethora of designs. I went with a dandelion and painted some splatter with latex colored paint before I applied the modello.

• After the design was applied, I top coated with Faux Effect's Aquathane polyurethane. This was applied with a foam roller as well. Two light coats work well and will protect from any tabletop use (even cutting) Let the coats dry about 2 hours between them.

The table legs were sanded with a coarse block, two coats of primer, and two coats of black latex paint. the legs were sealed as well like the top with 2 coats of Aquathane.

The finished product was a treasure! My sister was thrilled, and her neighbor was jealous!

Please see my web site for more ideas