A Touch of Blue

I spent the other evening refinishing a console table that has been on my to-do list FOREVER! The table was a cast-off from my cousin. She gave me an entire dining set, complete with console and hutch! I love the style and the golden pine color (and my cousin too!), however, my living room is full of wood and needed some color to break things up a bit. I picked a light shade of blue from the “Robin Egg Blue” color family, called “Misty Surf,” (Olympic Premium, C58-3, Lowes). It sat in my garage for a good two months before the mood struck me to “do some paintin’.”

The table is made of pine, actually pine veneers. This is what kills me! Pine is the cheapest, softest wood for furniture (except maybe Balsa wood). So I was surprised when I flipped it over to do some repair work and found particle board with pine veneers. The “Made in Indonesia” sign should have given it away! And guess what else? the drawers were made out of Balsa wood. Sometimes, don’t you just feel like you got cheated?

Anyway, with pine being a soft wood, it was pretty banged up, so I had some sanding to do. Also, the drawers were designed with some kind of plastic rail guides that broke a long time ago because of all the crap I shoved in them. The drawers were just sort of hanging there where they through the bottom of the table, so that was going to need to be reinforced.

And I had a wonky leg too. Some of the bolt hardware had come out of the wood and needed to be glued.

I got to work and started sanding and doing the repairs.

I just sanded a light layer to bond the paint and smooth out a few serious gashes.
Then I found an old can of primer in my garage that was super grody. I stirred it around for awhile and got the hard stuff at the bottom to mix a bit. Gross, but it worked.

By the time I started painting on the blue it was dark. I was having a great time. My husband had the day off and we spent the evening outside with our kids. I was working on the table, he was grilling, and the kids were everywhere. At one point he started pulling them around on our sled in the grass. It was hysterical! I wish I had a picture.

I painted on two coats and quit. I came inside and cleaned up, then laid in bed worrying about having wet paint in the morning when the dew had settled.

Well I woke up to beauty.

The blue paint was just the right shade and it looked fab. I ALWAYS seem to get brush strokes no matter how much time and detail I put into my work, but this time the paint had settled beautifully. Maybe it was the brush, or the paint, I will never know.

Then came the fun part. I got my sander out once again, and roughed up the edges. I sanded around the grooves of the table top, the trim pieces, the turned legs, and I always try to rough up a few patches on the drawer fronts just for good measure.

Next came time for the stain. I had a little can of Minwax Red Mahogany laying around from this project and decided to give it a go. I brushed it on let it sit a bit, and wiped it off with an old T-shirt.
After several attempts, I realized that I needed to wait and let the stain cure a little longer before wiping it off. After letting the stain tack up, I achieved a much deeper patina.

I just love how it turned out, and I plan to paint the rest of the set to match. Currently, I am using the hutch and dining table as our “Homeschool area” but right now, it’s more of a dumping ground for junk and laundry. Here’s a sneak peak of the before…

Maybe it will encourage me to get it done.

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