How to: distress my coffee table

   I’ve had my coffee table for about 2 years, and I bought it off of a girl I worked with for $25. She couldn’t use it because her daughter was learning how to walk so she needed a circular table. I couldn't believe that I was getting this table for so cheap, it was solid wood and pretty big. After putting it in our living room I was happy but the color was so-so and with wooden floors it washed it out. There was no stain or color on the table, just raw wood. So, I’ve been begging my husband since we got it to sand and stain it for me, Of course he never got around to it... what husband actually follows through with their "honey do-list" anyways? None :/ After 2 1/2 years I decided to take matters into my own hands.

   Our friend's mom distresses all their furniture so I asked her to give me a quick lesson on how to do it. This is a mixture of how she told me and of the YouTube videos from Beach Bum Livin aka BBL

You will need:

· Paint brushes. I use the $1 ones at Wal-Mart that are 2"

· Hand sander

· Sand paper

· Minwax PolyShades stain (it was cheaper and I really like the color; also "BBL" uses this in his videos)

· Paint (I got only one quart size because my table isn’t that big) you can get two different colors, just paint one coat for each color you use. I don’t think it matters which brand you use. I used Colorplace exterior semi-gloss. When you sand your furniture the two different colors will come through, along with the wood behind it. make a cool effect, but I decided to go with only one for now

A square sander would have been better but you got to work with what you have :)

To start:

Before you start you have to sand your furniture to remove all the oils, even if it isn’t been stained prior. I sanded my table two times to ensure I didn't miss anything, then I hand sanded the places that were hard to get. After, I wiped down the table with a damp rag to remove the excess dust. I let it dry and began painting at the bottom of my table and worked my way around so by the time I finished the whole table besides the top, it was ready to start sanding. (Note: I did one coat of paint and it was a hot day, not humid, so the table dried faster than expected.)

 

My practice section: I used the bottom of the table because if I messed up no one would know. Sand the table the same way of the wood grain, just like you sand it normally. I made long strokes and repeated the strokes in the same place until I started seeing the wood (only took about 5-6 passes, while pushing down at medium pressure). I did that over the hole bottom and along all the edges. Edges only really need one pass to remove the paint.

 

Next I painted the top of the table. I didn’t fully mix up the paint so throughout the table there is light blue streaks and sort of whitish blue streaks also. After I painted the top, I stuck my finger under the lip of the paint can where all the white is and put it on the brush to get this sort of white drift wood effect (cheaper way instead of buying white paint. I don’t know if this is how all paint is before you mix it up or if I was just lucky to have enough white to do the whole top. My recommendations is get a white sample colors at lows, they are like $3-4 for a pretty decent size sample color)

When I was letting the top dry I finished sanding all the legs. This is a closer look at the effect you want to get. You will need to go around and sand by hand to get into all the angles.

If you mess up and sand too much off you can easily go back with the paint and lightly paint over the area. it actually makes a cool old effect which I found out :) When you’re done and the paint is dry, make sure it is in fact dry, start staining. The stain I use is very easy to work with; you just paint it normally. I went around the table 2x to ensure it was completely sealed. I had to go over the top 3x because I’m going to have drinks on it so I wanted to make sure it didn’t ruin the top by the 1st drink I set on it.

Beware: depending on the color stain you use, it will affect the color you chose for your table. My color was a little lighter than the color I wanted so I chose a "classic oak" look which brightens up the actual color of my wood, and darkened up my color just enough. That made me happy :)

Before ^

This is the finish project. It looks a little teal here because of the lighting of my house. The pictures above are closer to the actual color. It’s called Blue Boundary Waters. I got the color pallet at

Wal-Mart

If you have any questions feel free to comment and I will get back to you.

Happy distressing,
Love you all,