Saturday, March 2, 2013

Battered to Blue Beauty Night Table

A couple weeks ago we rearranged rooms and moved Retro and Mando into separate bedrooms.  Mando got the blue captain's bed and dresser, and Retro the queen bed and furniture that had been in the guest room.

Mando's room was looking pretty sparse.  He really needed a bedside table for a lamp and an alarm clock.  I looked in a few stores and on line for one.  Of course I couldn't find anything in the dark blue to match the captain's bed we bought 6 years ago.  And anything that wasn't pressed paper and plastic cost over $150.  Scratch that.  Off to thrift shops I went.   I found this little gem for $12.  It is all wood, no veneer.  Very Early American style, probably was used as a lamp table next to a couch at one time. It looks like it served as a TV stand too, because there has been a hole punched in the middle of the back for cables, which will actually be useful for us too.  The poor thing had been used hard and was very battered.  The flash in this picture actually makes it look better than real life.






I liked the size and how sturdy it was, so I bought it.  Mando was NOT impressed when I told him it was for his room.  I had expected that, and wasn't hurt by his lack of enthusiasm and went to work.  First I cleaned it inside and out.  There were lots of cobwebs on the underside and I didn't want to bring them into the house.  I removed the the Early American drawer pulls and metal decoration thing from drawer.  Next out came the sandpaper and sanding block and 130 grit sandpaper.  The sanding block worked well for the top, shelf, sides and drawer front.  Then I quickly hand sanded the spindles.  My goal was to get rid of any gloss and scuff up the finish so it would take paint better.





A quick trip to Lowes with the small dresser drawer from the bedroom set for color match was next.  I found a color chip that matched well and had it mixed in a latex enamel satin finish.  I used a sponge roller and brush to apply the paint.  I really like the Velspar signature line of paints, all took was one coat, with some touch up.  After the paint dried, I gave it a couple coats of spray-on clean acrylic for extra protection.  Seriously, this is going in a 10 year old boy's room. 

I used an egg carton and some wood skewers for painting and drying the new little 5/8" round drawer knobs.




And here it is, all done.  Blue Beauty Night Table.  Mando could hardly wait for the paint to dry to get it to his room.







1 comment:

Janelle said...

Looks nice! I like the blue based on what the photo looks like. I guess I'll get to see it in a few days in person, though!