Well almost perfect!  Unfortunately, it had orange coloured legs which didn’t go at all with either my other timber colours or our flooring.  No problem!!  I just took them off, gave them a good sand and stained them the same colour as my other dining and lounge pieces… ahhhh that feels (and looks) so much better!  What do you think?

Before with orange legs:

 

After with lovely dark stained legs:

I started by cutting a bookcase we had in half which became the two ends of the breakfast bar.  Then I got the top from Bunnings.

Before

After

The side cabinet

Before

After

Before

After

Before

 

After

 

So somehow I discovered Joanna and Chip Gaines.  I fell in love with them, their family and their incredible creations!  I wanted to be just like Joanna… Well, I’m not there yet, but she has definitely reminded me of my craft passion that was well forgotten… until now.

So I don’t know how it started but I found a coffee table and two side tables that I thought I could paint white and stain the top (I remembered seeing one like that on “Fixer Upper”.  Then before I knew it I had purchased a dining table, a TV cabinet and a side board!  OMGosh I had no idea what I had gotten myself in to… This was even before I had started the coffee table.

This is the photo on the eBay ad of my first furniture purchase.

This is what I did with them!

Well that was it… I had the bug!

I was going to just use “normal” paint but then a girlfriend said have you heard of “chalk paint” and I said yes I had some vague memory about it.  She said you must get Annie Sloan – it’s the best.  So even though I already purchased my normal paint and stain I decided to get Annie Sloane’s Old White and some clear wax.

First I had to sand the top so I could stain it.  Man I never knew it was so much hard work!!  They make it look so easy on TV.   The next step was to tape off the top of the tables so I didn’t get stain all over the bottom half.  Then once the 3 coasts had dried (with sanding in between) I had to tape off the stained area so I didn’t put chalk paint all over it.

Three coats later and one wax coat… I looked at the other (very large and detailed) pieces I had purchased and thought OH NO what have I done!!  Even though it is a lot of work… and I forget every time how tough the first coat is… I now can’t stop painting furniture… and other stuff too LOL!!

I hope you will enjoy my journey as I share the “crafty” things I have created with you.

With love,

 

Joanne