This weekend I took on a little DIY project, furniture style. Scott was out of town on business, so I had to find something to do to bide my time. Oh, woe is me.
We have this little wooden table that was passed down from my mom. It’s kind of like Joseph and the amazing technicolor dream coat after a few drinks – it has way too many colors and it’s seen better days. But, I digress. This table was in need of an update, so I whipped out my handy dandy paint brush and got to work. Scott sanded and primed this bad boy a few weeks ago and painted it a bright yellow, per my request. Now, I’m sharing this with you because it’s important to know that all DIY projects don’t go like they do on HGTV. Plus, I love self deprecating humor. I didn’t even justify that first attempt with a picture because, frankly, it was a travesty. I can only attribute it to these lovely yellow chairs:
And the table was even worse than that. But I managed to pick up the pieces from my bad color choice and go for another attempt, without spending any more money.
This table goes in our office (ie. man cave) which has a lovely dark brown/olive-y green wall color. I took the too-bright-not-right yellow paint, mixed in a bit of the darker wall paint, and came up with a more subdued yellow-green color.
Ahh, much better. This is at least something I can share with you, internet, without being ashamed of my color choosing abilities. Sometimes that paint chip just doesn’t come out like you think – and that’s ok! The key to DIY projects is that you can’t be afraid to fail. If you do, just sand, paint and polyurethane again. No one will know… unless you tell them. :P
For this project, we used a latex based primer (after sanding away the previous paint coats – the electric sander is my new best friend), a semi gloss latex paint, and an oil based polyurethane. We used this combination of products due to countless hours (ie. 10 minutes) of research online, so take our word for it. The whole process took me one sunny afternoon – now isn’t that worth a freshly painted piece of lovelyness in our half-way updated office? I think so.
Any DIY furniture projects/mishaps you’d like to share? Revel in my misfortune – it’s fun!
Looks great. I do like the new color.
Audrey,
I just found your blog! How cute. I love it! You are super creative, and I didn’t know you had such photog skills! The pics out in the snow are beautiful :)
Heidi
thanks Heidi! My photog skills are seriously lacking – any tips you could give me would be great! :)
BTW Those chairs are……really something. I’m trying to be nice.
I think I read that you got a 50mm lens for your SLR. That is what I’m hoping to get next! I love to shoot at f2.8 or f1.4 or however wide my lens can go. It takes the photos to the next level. Have you ever tried Adobe Lightroom? That’s what I use to edit my photos and I love it! They have so many interesting presets that you can use or tweak to give your photos cool effects.
Very nice job on this bench–I love the spring-green shade! What a smart furniture choice for your printer, etc.
Heidi,
I did get a 50mm lens which I love. :) It’s f1.8, but I’m hoping to get a lens that goes even higher, plus a wide angle lens – any suggestions? I haven’t tried Lightroom yet – I’ve just been messing around with photoshop and using the free Kabuto actions. I’ll have to save up for Lightroom or find it free online. :) Thanks for the advice! I’m sure I’ll come to you with more in the future!
[...] into our sad little office that we close the door to when guests come over. The old school table I refinished (ie tried to salvage) sadly sits in the corner, but doesn’t provide any efficient storage. [...]