Farm House Table

I have seen a few Farm House table tutorials online and in magazines, and really wanted to give it a try! I've had this table for about a year; it's been sitting in my basement, begging to be refinished.

First, I unscrewed the original top from the table base. The top had been covered in mactac, so it was left in pretty hard shape. I painted the entire base in a white, which I mixed into chalk paint (see DIY tab for recipe). After lightly distressing it, I used a dark paste wax to give it that antique look.

For the top, I went to my local building supply retailer and purchased 2 1x6x10' pieces of cheap lumber. I even went so far as to search through the pile to find pieces that had knots, cool grain lines, and even some that had bark left on it. I had them cut into 30" pieces, knowing that I wanted the overall table top to be a square. After connecting them with 2 small pieces of 3" wide slats and finishing nails, I stained the whole thing in Minwax Jacobean. The colour is PERFECT! It looks old, rustic, and well lived in.

 
Overall I love how this turned out! I think I might re-do my dining table in this same look. Stayed tuned!

Back in Black

Today I was at the Cole Harbour Harvest Festival with a selection of my furniture for sale. We sold two pieces and gave away tones of business cards! It's always nice to hear comments from people on your work; it's motivating at the very least! Here is the latest dresser I finished! I loved the rounded mirror and the waterfall style top. I decided I wanted to try a 'pottery barn' type of finish on this piece since it was a lighter colour wood. After painting the entire dresser black with chalk paint, I distressed and waxed it with Minwax Dark Paste Wax. The reason I decided to wax instead of polyurethane, was so that it was left with a very vintage, flat finish. It turned out great! After spray painting the two handles, and adding two crystal knobs for the top, it was ready for sale!