I hope that everyone is having a fantastic day today. We finished up a few things this weekend and there will be posts with finished products to come! Today I want to show you my nesting tables.

I picked these tables up during the annual garage sale for my parent’s neighborhood for $35. I walked by the booth where these little beauties were being sold twice before convincing myself to get them. I immediately loved the bones of these pieces. They have great lines and I simply love their legs!

Before

Look at those legs!

I am not the type of designer who automatically says, “Paint it!” every time that I see a piece of furniture. If these tables had been solid wood, I would have done the standard sand/stain/poly. However they are merely a mid quality wood with a damaged and worn veneer. You can see in the photo below where some of the veneer on the top had already started to separate and chip off. So I decided to paint them.

Table Top – Before

The first thing to do when painting a piece will be to sand the old finish and prep with primer. In this case, I did some extra sanding where the veneer was cracking so that it was less noticeable. Then it was priming time. I like to use Kilz spray primer. Kilz is a great product and is very affordable.

Kilz Primer

After priming, I did a light sanding and started with the spray paint. I chose this color, Satin Almond by Krylon. I like that it is a nice greige neutral.

Krylon Satin Almond

First Coat

I sanded the tables lightly between coats. On a side note, always follow the instructions on the product you are using… it really does make a difference! 🙂

Then I coated it with Polycrylic to protect the finish. I knew that I would be using these as end tables… think cup rings… definitely needed to be protected!

And here is the finished product:

Refinish: Nesting Tables
Before and After

I should probably add that this silly set of nesting tables took several weeks for me to complete. Why? Well, there was just no way that I could refinish them in the tiny one-car carport at our old place. Instead, I resorted to only working on them when I was able to visit my parent’s house and borrow their garage/driveway. Even though it was a long and drawn out process, I love the end result! PS: Thanks Mom and Dad for being so gracious!

After Photo

Yes, that adorable couple in the photo is my hubby and I.

Detail view

Cost Breakdown:

Garage Sale Nesting Tables – $35
1 can of Kilz Primer – $6
2 cans of Krylon Satin Almond – $14 ($7/ea)
1 qt. can of Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish – $18 (This can be reused on many projects in the future)

Grand Total: $73 !!!

There are tons of fabulous resources on how to paint furniture all over the blog-o-sphere and pinterest. However, I find that the best tool when redoing a piece of furniture, is confidence. Find something that you like or that inspires you. Be creative and when you decide how to make it your own, do it with a confident hand!

That is all for today… Have you refinished anything lately?