From Trash to Treasure

One of my main goals for this blog is to show you that is is possible to decorate on a budget. It is nice to splurge sometimes, but it isn't always ideal. I love finding things that someone else considered "trash" and turning it into my "treasure". This weekend I did some thrift shopping and found some great pieces, but I can't reveal all the goods in one post!  I have so many fun things to show you, but I am going to start off with my favorite........

I have this old TV box-table-stand-thing that was my Grandma's and I have been wanting to refinish it for a while. The table used to house a TV inside of it, but the TV was removed a log time ago. We now use it for our stereo. It was a dark avocado green, which actually wasn't that bad, but it wasn't what I wanted. This weekend the hubby was out of town, so I decided to get down-n-dirty. Down on the garage floor, dirty with sawdust and paint.

Tutorial #1
How to Distress Furniture

These are the materials you will need:

• Bulls Eye Primer (I chose this because it was cheap. It worked well, too.)
• Paint Brush
• Paint for your base color
• Glaze (I will talk more about this later.)
• Sander/ Sandpaper
• Screwdriver (For the hardware removal.)
• Spray Paint in Hammered Bronze (To paint hardware.)

*I never used the wood putty in the picture.

This table is actually plastic! Yes, plastic! The top and base is made out of particle board, but the rest is good 'ol plastic. Since it is such a dark color, I have to start out with primer. Primer is great idea for any paint project if you are trying to hide a dark undercoat. I ended up having to do 3 coats of primer in order to cover the dark green! After the primer it looked like this:

When the primer was dry, I was able to paint it with the base color. I wanted a pale gray-blue, so I chose Eddie Bauer's Shale EB32-4. I knew I didn't need very much, so in the interest of saving money I bought a sample can. I didn't coat the blue on thick. Since I was already planning on distressing the table, I didn't mind if the white showed through the blue in some places. This is what it looked like after I applied the base color:

When the blue was dry, I started sanding. I began with my little trusty sanding block, but that ended quickly. I switched over to this small detail sander:

This made the process go a lot faster. Although this is a "detail" sander, you still need the good 'ol fashioned piece of sandpaper for the "details." This is what the table looked liked after the sanding process:

I actually really liked the table at this stage, but I was too excited about my glaze to skip that step!  I used a damp paint brush to apply it and wiped the access off as I went. The glaze I got is from Home Depot and is by Ralph Lauren. I had them tint it to Tobacco. This is what it looks like:

Sooooo are you ready to see the table?!?!?! Can I get a drum roll please.....

TA DA!!!!

  

Now a side-by-side:

The table has a lot more blue in-person. But, I love it! The best part is that it is truly a one-of-a-kind piece! Who would have thought that it once housed a 1970's TV?! I love, love, love the way it turned out! 

So are you ready for the price breakdown?

I had all the materials on hand, except for the primer, blue paint, and the glaze.

The primer was $5.98, the blue paint was $2.94,and the glaze was on clearance for $10.00 a gallon. I will use that gallon of glaze on a million other things, you actually can't even tell I used it and I painted two pieces of furniture with it this weekend!!! I really don't feel like I should even list those full amounts in the total because I still have a lot left. But, for logistics I will! Those items will just be considered as "on-hand" when it comes to tallying up my next total! =)

So, the grand total is:  $18.92

Not too bad, huh?

Keep checking back this week, I just might have a new surprise for you everyday!