Painting
I have absolutely no artistic fibers anywhere in my being when it comes to drawing or painting. So when I say I like to paint, I mean I like to take a gallon of paint, or a can of spray paint, and turn something that was once one color, into another color.

This weekend I decided it was time to begin my furniture painting project. I began with my coffee table.

I am on a quest to make my house less brown. In my living room, my walls are brown due to wood paneling (not the cheesy 70s paneling, but wood paneling, nonetheless), my carpet is light tan. I also have exposed brick inside the house, in varying shades of brown. And by default, the furniture I have collected over the years is by and large, brown.

It's a lot of brown.

My poor woman's way to ease the brown-ness is to paint a few pieces of furniture, making them shades other than brown. I choose this rather than buying new furniture, which I cannot afford since I am spending all of my money on gas these days. My hope is that painting key pieces of furniture will contrast with the brown walls and floor, and then my house will be less offensively brown. It should all work together nicely.

My coffee table is a hand-me-down. It has been in my family for many years. It belonged to my grandparents, who gave it to my parents, who then gave it to my sister, which I then took ownership of. It's brown stained wood, but the stain is not in good shape. I keep it covered with a cloth to hide some, um, issues.

Yesterday I woke up and decided it was the perfect day to paint the coffee table. I bought spray paint and spray primer at Home Depot. I put the table out in the yard. I began to spray.

It was awesome. And fumey.

I was a little nervous at first. It's not a fancy table, but it has been in my family for many years. It has sentimental value. I didn't want to be the one to mess it up.

I sprayed the primer, then the paint. It started looking really good.

But, once everything dried, I wasn't quite satisfied with it. However, I had to quit for the evening. I HATE having to quit a project, leaving it unfinished. It bugged me all night.

This morning I remembered I have a small can of gloss paint. I decided the top of the table needed to be evened out with a coat or two of gloss paint. So, I did that. I let it dry.

Then I decided the top needed to be sanded, to even everything out. I did that.

Last, I took a toothpick and traced the lines of the grooves in the top of the table, to get the extra paint out of the grooves. I wanted the black lines to still show through.

The finished product? Amazing.

I love it. It's white. It already brightens the room a bit. It really only took a total of about 5 hours to do. I don't have to keep it covered with the cloth anymore. And, it's like a brand new piece of furniture that I only spent $12 to create. The sentimental value is still there, but it has been rebirthed into something that works better in the room.

I LOVE PAINTING THINGS!! It may not be "art", but it's therapeutic.

Next on the list is my dining table, the four chairs at the table, and the thing my TV sits on. All of which has no sentimental value whatsoever. So, if it turns out ugly, I can chunk it and one day buy something new, with no remorse whatsoever.

C.T.

PS: OK, I have to confess that because I am so OCD about some things, and because I am SO uneasy about leaving a project unfinished, I actually added the gloss coat of paint last night when I got home late after church and dinner and blog party with friends. But I did the final coat and sanding this morning.

There may be something wrong with me.