Thursday, March 8, 2012

Update

It's been awhile, so here's an update of whats been going on the last month.

Since no matter what happens at the end of the month, I will be moving out of my apartment, and won't have my roommates coffee table (among other things: couch, tv, etc.), I bought a $20 coffee table from Goodwill. 


You can't really tell from this picture, but it was kind of a cherry color...which isn't my favorite.  The plan was to either stain it a darker color with less red, or paint it.  I decided painting would allow for more expression, so I went to Lowe's with that direction in mind. I will be using the leftover candlelit beige from the headboard project as the main color, and the light green/blue color from my dining room chairs as a chevron patter on top.  Yes, I'm alittle obsessed with the zig-zag/chevron pattern these days...

I bought a can of my favorite spray primer, an new knob for the little drawer, and some 1.5" painters tape.  These probably cost about $15 dollars total. 

It was time to get started, and the first step was to prime the table.  I removed the knob from the drawer and spread out my drop cloth and got to work.  The Bullseye 1 2 3 Spray Primer is really great!  It dries fast and goes a long way!


Once again, the wind was alittle too strong and blew my dropcloth back onto my still damp primed table, so I had to sand some places down again to make sure it was all smooth.  I then moved the table inside to put on 3 coats of the candlelit beige color.  I allowed 1 hour of dry time between each coat, and it turned out great.  You can't see this, but I didn't bother painting the inside of the drawer since it will stay closed.


The next step was to measure and mark where my tape would need to go.  I used the same method we used for the headboard project (don't ask me how we came up with it).  I marked the center of the table, from there I marked every 2 inches.



Next, I measured over 5 inches from the center on each side and marked down 3 inches and then every 2 inches from that mark.  This created a bunch of staggered dots on the table.  I then moved 5 inches out from those marks and marked every two inches again. And over and over again until I ran out of table.  This created sort of a grid to apply my tape.


After I had all the tape down...which took FOREVER and was very tedious...I put two coats of the light green color I already from my dining table project.  You can see the color on the chairs at the edge of the picture above.  I wanted the pattern to be alittle muted and not as "BAM, Chevron pattern in your face!", so I went with a lighter color.  I don't know what sort of furniture I'll have in my next place, so I didn't want it to be too busy.


The next step, my favorite part, was to remove the tape for the final reveal.  And here it is!  You can tell that in different lights the color looks alittle darker, but I think the first photo is the most true to color.




All in all, I've very proud of my little table, and can't wait to put it in my living room...wherever that may be!  I'm on the lookout for some end tables with similar lines, so that I could paint them the same candlelit beige color and have a coordinating living room set.  So, after it was all said and done, I'd say I spend about $35 on my coffee table...not too bad.

Here are some other pictures I had on my phone from the last month:

Kate and I tried our hand at police sketches.  This is me and Kate is below.  They didn't have any good hairstyles, so that is why our hair looks so crazy.  Let's just hope we never have to help the police sketch anyone.  I did mine while looking at a picture of myself...





Ian's birthday dinner at Los Bravos Mexican Restaurant.  They brought out a dessert and sombrero and sang Happy Birthday!

And lastly, I managed to get a broom to balance straight up and down!  I noticed a few people on Facebook had been posting pictures of balancing brooms, and assumed it was something to do with the moon, or an equinox or something, so I had to try it.  Turns out it is just some trend going on where people balance their brooms, take a picture and post it to facebook.  Strange...  It was pretty weird looking tho!