Up-cycling : Coffee Table

I always love a project so when I went to the tip with my mum to throw away half a tree she had cut back in our garden and noticed a coffee table sat in a skip we decided to pull it out and take it home with us.

And yes I know you're not really meant to pull things out yourself but it just seemed beyond a shame to throw a perfectly usable, if a bit dated coffee table in some landfill somewhere.

Before....


As you can see the varnish was incredably patchy and worn and it has to be said that this picture was taken after I went at it with a scrubbing brush to remove the gloopy sticky horribleness that covered the top. But the shape and size of it was just beautiful and all the issues where just cosmetic beause it's very steardy.



After sanding it like crazy I got out my trusty emusion. Yes I know that that sounds like madness but trust me if you use it the right way it comes out beautifully and is just as durable as anything else (I made a previous post on how to paint furniture with emulsion). Also if I'm honest I had half a tub of the most beautiful blue left after painting my bedroom and I didn't want it to go to waste.

After getting it painted I stood back and decided that it was missing something so I spent awhile coming up with ideas and did numourous designs and finally I settled on it.

I drew the design to size and using tracing paper made a copy that could then be tranfered onto the table. (Use a number two pencil to trace the image precisely. Once the image and all its detail are on the paper, turn the sheet over and create rubbing marks using the side of the pencil point.)

Then onto the painting, this was simultaniously my favourite and most frustrating part. I remembered that while I was digging around in are shed for the paint that I had noticed a couple of tester pots that were barely used. I hadn't even taken notice of the colours but after second inspection I realised that they where perfect together, and started on the design using emulsion.

I descided after much thought that the legs actally looked rather beautiful as they were against the finely painted bold top, so I left them be.

Because this is a coffee table I decided that hard wearing gloss was the best bet. Ater doing a little tester on a painted block of wood and a peice of paper I started on the table and did three coats over a number of days so its super solid and glossy. (I did the testers make sure that the gloss didnt react with the paint or come out yellowy)

And I have to say that I am actually really proud of this one and I don't say that often.

It just shows really some of the absolute gems people throw out thinking that it is beyond use or out of just lazyness, I suppose its easier to chuck it in the tip than to find someone who might want it. But a few days of work and I think the difference is amazing, yes it was challanging at times but I loved it and the fact that I saved this beauty from a landfill was worth every second. I just can't wait to get my teeth into many more up-cycles.

So glossy you can see the clouds above and me trying to take a semi decent photo :)

 And for some reason or another my camera seems to not be very good at picking up the green in the design :( But in real life its a beautful soft yellowy green.