End Table Makeover

More Goodwill furniture?  Yes!  The guest room needed end tables after all.  And I wanted something curvy and girly... wasn't much available like that in the $50 and under range at my usuals (IKEA, Target, etc). Shocking, I know.  So, I decided to bribe Katie from SewWoodsy to hit up the local Goodwill with me. Okay, not really... Katie and I work together at our "real" jobs and go to Goodwill quite often instead of getting lunch. Ha. What can I say, we're both crafty!

Katie snapped this pic of my while patiently waiting to check out.  And did people stare at us while we smiled with our treasures?  They sure did!  Look how happy I am with my $20 end table.

Since I needed 2 tables and Goodwill only had one such beauty, I searched Craig's List for another similar.  And what do you know... I found this, one street over from my house, for $15! Score.

Check out that paint job. And here's a helpful tip... don't paint over your hardware! Like, ever.

C'mon.

So since I had two handles covered in paint, that I still wanted to use, I had to figure out how to strip that paint.  Google is my friend.  Did you know you can boil it right off?!

Yep. Use a pot or pan that you are not going to use for food anymore... who knows what's in that paint... you don't want to eat anything toxic, and boil for a couple minutes.  I think mine were in there for a total of 5 minutes when the paint just started to float right off.

At that point I took them out with tongs and nudged the rest of the paint off with a skewer (they were hot after all).  So easy!

Right after the paint came off they looked a little dull.  I just gave them a quick scrub with my scrubby kitchen sponge and they came out great.  Top one is pre-scrubbed, bottom one got a 30 second scrub with some Dawn.

Next thing I did was give both tables a light sanding.  I was planning on using chalk paint and I know the great thing about it is "you don't have to sand".  But that makes me nervous. And, the paint-tastic table was quite rough from the previous paint job it had received.  I sanded with the help of my assistant... who insisted on putting his own jammie pants on.  (I can dooo itttt!!! said in 2-year-old whine dialect)  Thus, they are on inside out and backwards.  Go ahead, judge me neighbors!

I followed SewWoodsy's recipe for chalk paint.  Super easy.  I think I did 3-4 coats with some light sanding in between.

After a couple coats of paint, it really started to bother me that the tables were slightly different heights. So, I found some scrap wood in the garage and added some "feet" with wood glue to the shorter table.

A little bit of finishing wax later... done!

 I even lined the drawers with scrapbook paper.

I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I was nervous about the whole chalk paint fad... I didn't want them to look dull and like I DIY'd them.  But I'm so impressed with how smooth and slightly shiny the waxed surface came out.

And bonus... did you see my lamps?

Yep.. Goodwill! Those bases were $3!  I'm not kidding...  see.  I left the sticker on to prove it.  haha And the shades are from Target ($20)  So for $46 I got two lamps... that's less than the price of one usually. I'm a little proud.

Hope I got your confidence up to brave those smelly isles at Goodwill and find your own treasures.