Little $4 Yard Sale Table

I found this little gem of a table at a yard sale about a year ago. When I asked the guys there how much, they told me $5. I almost fell over...... They said their mother had it for a long time and that it was her aunts or something like that. At first I felt bad about taking it for $5, but then I thought, I will love this little table and fix it up so it will be beautiful again, and I will use it! I had been to several yard sales in the neighborhood sale that day, and did not have any more cash!!!! I scrounged and found $4 and some change, maybe 45 cents. The guy was laughing with me and said that was fine. So, I got the table for 4 dollars and change!!!!

It was very wobbly and one of the feet had broken off. Luckily it had broken in a spot that does not affect its ability to stand flat. The finish is also scratched up a bit. Here it is before, as I purchased it.



Here is the after. Beautiful, isn't it?



This is how I did it:

STEP 1:
I took the base off the top and used some glue and straps to tighten the legs. I also lightly sanded it, not much though and I was planning on using milk paint on the base.


STEP 2:
I bought a sample size of Miss Mustard Paint in Boxwood Green. I watched her videos on how to mix and apply. I would say the sample pack has about 3 T, maybe more, of powder. I used 1T with 1T+ warm water for the first coat. I had just enough for the pedestal base, the skirt of the top and the frames of 2 small cabinet doors (to be shared in a later post). Do you like my choice of paint container?.....

*** Update: See Post about the cabinet doors here ****





For the second coat I mixed the same amount and used it on everything. I absolutely LOVE how you can see streaks of blue and yellow when you paint. MMS talks about this in her video but I could not see it. In person this is so beautiful and really does give the paint dimension as MMS said. I only gave it about 1 hour or less between coats. It dries very fast....and I could have re-coated it sooner but of course got sidetracked :-)

STEP 3:
I wanted to paint a decorative border on the table skirt. I used a sample of BM paint and a small brush and free-handed my design, making it up as I went. I used some pieces that MMS has shown on her blog as inspiration.



I also decided to highlight the decorative areas on the legs. At this point, I did not like it at all, but decided to see how it looked after a mild distressing and darkening with the antiquing wax. Mr. Thrifty does not like it at all and I am undecided. I think I may end up painting over the white with green in the future and then re-waxing. Maybe.....



STEP 4:
I distressed with a flat head screwdriver, instead of a spackle knife, like MMS suggested. That was all I could find......we are in temporary housing for several months and all my stuff is not here!



STEP 5:
I used the antiquing wax with a rag. It went on really easily and did not leave a lot of brown streaks like so many antiquing glazes do. I really liked how easy it was to apply. I let is sit for the time stated on the jar, 3-5 minutes. Then I buffed with the cloth. It did not buff to a nice sheen like the minwax furniture wax I have used. I don't know if I did not use enough, or if it was because it was very humid outside, or because that is how it works over the milk paint. I don't mind though, because no one is going to be touching the base of the table......

STEP 6:
I had originally planned to sand down and re-stain the top. However, after painting the rest of it, the top looked better than expected. It did have some minor scratches but I liked the character. I chose to add a stain over it (after a light sanding) to cover the scratched areas. I let it dry and then waxed the entire top with regular (non-antiquing) Min-wax wax.

I love how this table turned out, especially the little painted detail. I can not wait to get it in our house with all our furniture and see how it looks there!
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Here are some more pictures of my sweet little table.







Have a great day!!!!!


Linking up to: Funky Junk Interiors
Be Different.....Act Normal

Between Naps on the Porch
Miss Mustard Seed
Green Willow Pond
Thrifty Decor Chick

July 4th Shell Art - Kid's Paint Project

This project was inspired by a friend's post on Facebook. She posted a picture of painted shells laid out in a flag shape. It was so cute and I had never seen anything like it. I knew I had to copy it, since we live near the beach and my boys love to help with my projects, and July 4th is my favorite holiday.......here is our version!



A few weekends ago we were visiting family south of us, mostly because I had a Triathlon there that weekend, but also because it was a great excuse to see family! On the beach were tons of these little shells. They were all around the same size and many were very white.....so I thought (as I was checking out the large swells in the ocean and wishing I had not signed up for an ocean Tri)....these shells are perfect for my shell project! When we all went to the beach later that day, I collected over 50.

I brought them home, and laid them out to get the sizes correct.

Then I let the boys help me paint. We kept the white shells, white (surprise...) and painted shells red and blue. This was a great break from our packing up the house. The boys needed to be distracted and entertained and my Mom helped them while I kept packing......thanks Mom!!!!



Then I found a scrap piece of wood and stained it with a gel stain in Java. When that was dry I waxed it. It is not perfect, the edges of the wood were a little splintered, I sanded it a lot, but you can still see the imperfections. But hey, I let the boys paint the shells, so they are imperfect also. The paint is not covering the shells completely, but they did it! The only painting I did was to add the stars with a paint pen.
After the wax dried we all put the shells on the wood with hot glue. Because hot glue is, well.....HOT....I did not let the boys use the glue. I put it on the shells and then placed the shell on the wood and they pressed on it to make sure it was on there good. We call that teamwork.



After we were done I had them sign the back, which they each did. I will treasure this little art piece forever!!!! Here they are looking proud.



Here is a close up so you can see how not perfect it is (even though it is perfect in my eyes).



Here is one last picture of our shell flag. I have loved seeing all the patriotic art and craft projects in blogland. Hope you enjoyed our project.



Click this link to see my other July 4th project, a Rustic Painted Flag from an dirty old fence board!

Have a great Fourth of July holiday!




I'm linking to these fantastic blogs: Between Naps on the Porch, I Gotta Try That, Cozy Little House, Green Willow Pond