Revamping an Antique Table + Painting Tips!

Today, I want to show you a small revamping and refinishing project! I used to do this for a living, seriously. I would look at a piece and know how much I could make from it if I refinished it. So today was super therapeutic and enjoyable for me. 

Check out this super fun video we created, taking you along with us!

I headed over to Checkered Berry, a local antique store that I've frequented my entire life; it's been open as long as I've been alive! It is owned by a sweet lady named Jane!

Today the booths had a lot of good stuff, but ultimately I chose this cutie because of its lines and the details of the legs and the carved details around the top! I also liked the fact that it is a dark wood piece and it has a dark base to start with so when I distress it, its going to come through really easy. It's an antique piece and I paid $39 for it!

When I got started, I lightly brushed over one spot that had some tape and then lightly sanded over it with some 223 sand paper just to get the stickiness off of it to make sure that wouldn't be an issue. Then, I took my brush and dusted over it-- that was the only cleaning I did beforehand!

Of course, I chose my favorite paint to use-- Rustoleom Chalked Paint! I love this paint because I get it from a local hardware store here in town, Messers, the cutest little hardware store with the most helpful men and supplies for every project you can imagine.
I also love it because it requires little to no prep work, and I am not someone who is very patient and likes to do a ton of prep work before I can start painting.

It comes in a variety of colors, and if your hardware store is as bomb as mine you can have them tint it for you! If not, there are a ton of beautiful pre-mixed colors to choose from.

This is a chalked paint so its going to adhere to most surfaces. It's an extra flat paint and ultra matte with a chalky finish, so it will adhere to wood, metal, plastic-- you name it I've painted it with this. It goes on really smooth and provides a ton of coverage. This piece should only take two coats, even with how dark it started!

Next is my handy dandy brush-- the best brush in the entire world! At any point in time it may be sold out at Messers because I buy them up any time I can! It has a short wooden handle and it fits perfectly in my hand. I hold it like a pencil so the short handle is perfect for that! It also has a chiseled edge so when I hold it like a pencil, I can put it in the crevices and get those! The bristles are so smooth it makes it easy to work the brush strokes in and lay them all flat.

Another pro tip with this paint is if for some reason it is too thick for you, you can add water to dilute it for an easier application or for a spraying application! I used to spray quite a few of my pieces!

Yet another pro tip: When laying brush strokes, lay the lines down in varying directions, alternating back and forth between vertical and horizontal brush strokes until all of your brush strokes are laying flat. If you see that your brush strokes are picking up more than they are laying down, it means that section needs to dry a bit more before you continue.

It might look like I'm beating the piece back and forth, but the best way to apply paint on spindle legs is to literally slap the brush back and forth. It may not be the most professional method, but it makes the smoothest finish when you do that. So make sure you're wearing something that can get paint splatter on it.

You also want to feather the tip of your brush, so start with hard pressure when you first apply and then work with less pressure as you go back and forth.

Another thing to note is that chalked paint dries extremely fast, so this is a project that a beginner can knock out in half a day, which is another thing I love about this paint-- you don't have to wait around to see the results of your efforts!

After the paint dries, you want to distress it! I used my Ryobi corner sander, but because I fake it until I make it, I used the paper that goes with my orbital sander-- but it totally works! Sand around any corners and gently over the rest of the piece!

After that, I finished it off with Polycrylic spray to seal the piece!