My First Annie Sloan Project

I have had this table so long I no longer remember where I bought it.  When I redid the guest room I decided this would be the perfect table between two chairs in what is quite a large room on my third floor.  I fully intended to paint it along with redoing the two chairs.  Then other things took precedence and ...well you know, out of sight out of mind.  Only when I am expecting an overnight guest do I enter that room and that is just to wipe a dust cloth over the flat surfaces.

But now that the kitchen remodel is complete and some beautiful fall weather has arrived, I felt like spending some time in the studio.  This seemed like just the right size project to ease back into furniture painting.

I removed the crusty little toes from the table legs and soaked them in vinegar overnight.

A light brushing with an old toothbrush and all the rust and grime was removed.  I thought about painting them but I rather liked the natural patina so I decided to use them this way.

I gave the top a good sanding before I started painting.  The paint is a mix of two colors I had on hand.  Just regular interior eggshell paint.  (No Annie Sloan yet.  One of the reasons I have not tried AS up 'till now is that it's a little pricey for my frugal nature.)

After two coats of paint I decided this piece was really begging for a little distressing.  I used a sanding block to take some paint off the high spots.  Easy peasy.  I knew I would wax this piece with a clear wax that I had on hand but it seemed to be calling for a dark wax in the recesses.  I have darkened clear wax with rottenstone, asphaltum, and colorant but non of those ideas appealed to me for this piece.  This is the point where I broke down and purchased my first Annie Sloan product. Twenty nine dollars and change with tax!

It is hard to see that I used any because I used it very sparingly and went over it with clear wax taking most of the dark wax off.  I really only wanted it in the creases and I didn't want those to look like they were filled with grime.

I must say it went on smoothly and was easy to control.  I will certainly find other ways to use it in the future because I'm not one to waste anything.  This might be the incentive I need to attack a few more pieces that have been waiting in the wings.

The color is a little off in this photo.  It really looks more like the previous photo.  This one was taken in the guest room.

This is actually where I want to use the table but, as you can tell, I have some work to do to pull this off.

I moved the table next to the window seat for this shot.

If you are curious about the rest of the room, you can check it out here.  There was another little table at the time of that post and I blogged about it in this post.

My friend, Sally, will be visiting next weekend so it's probably time to end this post, make the bed, and swing that dust cloth around.