The Navy Door

Decorate. Repurpose. Restore.

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How I Painted My Kitchen Table With General Finishes Milk Paint

I love buying old items at the thrift store cheaper than actually marked! Now don’t get me wrong, we donate quite a few items every month. I just really love finding a deal! At my local Salvation Army, I found this unique wood table for only $46.00!

I first fell in love with table for the antique look of the legs and trim around the table, but one thing I didn’t know was that the table expanded. This is great because we have four children and this gives them a little more space when we sit around the table. But I also found that I was missing a foot of trim when the table was expanded, so I looked into having a piece made for both sides of the gap. I found that it was $75 per foot, so I threw a runner over it instead to cover the gaps!

I started by lightly sanding the table and legs with a 220 grit to remove the shine, then wiped the whole table down with a 50% rubbing alcohol and 50% water mixture, to remove all dust for a clean surface to spray on. Now, I was painting this table just before our oldest daughter’s first communion, so I never took a picture while I was painting the table, sorry! But I actually set up the tent that I bought with the Wagner Home Decor HVLP Sprayer and Spray Tent Comb at Home Depot in the house and sprayed this table right in the dining room. I used General Finishes Milk Paint in Driftwood and the Snow White which I was able to find at a few repurposing stores in the area, and if you click on either one of the General Finishes links you will be able to find a retailer around you too! 

Just like the kitchen cabinets, I applied three light coats of paint with the sprayer then sealed the table with three coats of the High Performance topcoat from General Finishes.    

Here is my table completely finished, but for some reason my runner was not in the picture! Anyway, I thought this table turned out great and the paint is flawless and durable.  

Please let me know if you have any questions on this project as I would be happy to help! 

Xo Christine 

 

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Repurpose Your Old Wood Picture Frames

I love repurposing old items into new usable pieces. Before I get rid of any old items I don’t use anymore, I try to come up with ideas on how to reuse them.

When we lived in Massachusetts, there was an abundance of vintage shops that had so many great finds. There was this one place I would always pass as I went back and forth to work which had a variety of old wood picture frames that I fell in love with. Not knowing what I would do with them when I purchased them, but knew I had to have them. At the time I owned a little jewelry store and used the picture frames to display jewelry on the wall. After I sold the store and moved back to our home town, I was determined to use these frames again but didn’t know what I would do with them. A family friend that I happen to do many different projects for had asked me to make her a chalkboard for her eyelash studio. Instead of just making a plain chalkboard I thought I would elevate the look by framing the board with my old wood frames. I had two frames that I thought would be perfect for this project.

As you can see in the picture above I had spray painted both of these frames gold, which I actually painted for my store in Mass. These frames have a lot of small detail to them, which I really wanted to highlight to pull the whole project together.

I resprayed both frames gold, to touch up any nicks or scratches the frames may have had while they were in storage. I used Rust-Oleum Metallic Gold Rush that I found at Home Depot. Although I used the same color, one wood frame was a little darker than the other, to begin with, which is why the color looks a little different and also the lighting, unfortunately, was not great either. I then attached the chalkboard pieces, which I also purchased at Home Depot where they cut them to size for me. I used Liquid Nails for small projects, to adhere the chalkboard piece to the back of the frame and let it dry overnight.

When it was completely dry I was able to stand the frame back up and painted the small details of the frame with Deco Art shimmering silver acrylic paint and Deco Art glorious gold paint from Michaels, with a small paintbrush by Craft Smart.

What do you think? Lis loved these chalkboard picture frames for her studio, and I loved that I was able to repurpose pieces that I already had. Please let me know if you have any questions about this project, I would love to help!

XO Christine