Recycling an end table

Many years ago, when I was getting ready to head to grad school with no furniture and no money my mom and I hit up garage sales to find what I needed on the cheap. One of the best finds that we found was an end table for $5. I will admit that I wasn't in love with it but it held a lamp in a the living room and it was good for holding my drinks while I studied or watched TV. Since I was not totally in love with it I knew that it needed a new home here in Dallas.

In the beginning it actually held the cable box since it doesn't fit on the TV stand, oops. I eventually found a different, cuter table so I knew that I was ready to figure out something to do with the old end table. I decided that I would repaint it and leave it outside for an end table when I sit outside and enjoy the weather.

The first thing I did was sand the table down so that the paint would adhere to the table. I used a pretty rough sand paper since the table was so dark and I wanted to see if the stain would come off... yeah that didn't happen.

See how uneven it is

Once the table was sanded and wiped off I spray painted on a primer. This did not go as well as I planned. To be honest, I think I should have just bought a regular primer because it wasn't very even on the actual top of the table. Truthfully, I didn't think this would be a problem until later.

Lily is trying to tell me that I should add more primer

Once I sprayed the primer on the table I went ahead and started painting the pink on. From the very first moment that I put paint on the table I knew that this was exactly what I wanted. I chose Feverish Pink from Sherwin Williams. I got my paint from there because when I went to Home Depot I couldn't find the right color and they were having their 40% off everything sale. It is always a bonus when you get what you want on the cheap.

It is amazing

Once I finished the first coat I started to realize that the unevenness of the primer was going to be a problem. In the end I put three coats of paint on the table. I think with a really even primer coat I might have been able to get away with just two but I wanted the table to be pink and not pink with brown underneath. It might not have been the primer it might have been the fact that the table was so dark. This paint dried pretty quickly so that was nice.

I am loving the table, I can see it from the path when I walk Lily. Most mornings I walk out and look at the table and realize that I am in love with it. It has been a while since a craft did exactly what I thought it would do. This was a great recycle of this table, it needed some updating. And yes I do know that this is not just pink it is hot pink! I love it. Now that it is starting to cool off I am looking forward to sitting out there and having some hot chocolate.