before and after, furniture, painting, Projects

Herringbone Side Table

36 Comments
Update! My furniture restlessness continues, and this table is now for sale in my shop. 

Wayyyyy back when, I showed you that the nightstands I planned to use in my room were majorly small compared to my big beautiful grownup bed. I replaced the tables with bookshelves, which are still there. One of those little tables has been sitting in my dining room (also known as Sarah’s furniture storage space, sorry roomies) for a while.

I haven’t been happy with the side table (which I refinished) next to our sofa for a while, so I decided to nix it and move my ex-nightstand into our living room. Only, white painted furniture looks kind of odd in our living room because we have an ugly rental neutral on our walls, and the white looks a little dirty. And I kind of rushed to finish a paint job on this little guy (girl?) before I moved out of my parents’ house, so it needed a new paint job anyway.

Ummm this corner is really dark, so please excuse the hideous attempt at photo editing.  

Read more after the jump!
Even though I didn’t want to go with white, I still wanted this table to be neutral so that it didn’t compete with our beautiful pink TV console. I decided to paint the table gray. I used Glidden flat paint in Cobblestone, which is actually a Martha Stewart color. When choosing a gray, I made sure that it went with the fabric I bought recently, which I plan to make pillows out of soon.
I sanded the table somewhat lightly, and then used a paintbrush and a roller to apply three coats of paint onto the table. Once the gray was dry, I decided that the table needed something…a paint treatment perhaps? I decided to add a herringbone pattern to the tabletop with white paint I had on hand. Oh, and I did all this at night, so excuse these blurry and off-colored photos. 

To paint the herringbone pattern, I marked up the tabletop and taped it off for all the stripes. I used the tutorial from this beautifulceiling as a guide. This process was not as easy as I thought it would be. It actually made me feel kind of stupid. And not to brag, but I took calculus as a junior in high school so things like this are not supposed to be difficult for me. But I also think my math skills have declined over the years, so that could explain it. Meh, oh well. I digress.
So like three episodes of Sex & the City later, I finally had my table taped off. Check out the pile of failed tape in the corner of this pic. Yep, it was a trial and error process indeed.

Once I had the table taped off, I used a brush to get the edges, and then rolled on three coats of white paint. Oh, funny thing…it was the white paint that was already on the tabletop. Shortly after I put the third coat on (before it was dry), I pulled off the painters’ tape to reveal beautiful lines. This was the point in time where I rejoiced at the discovery of Frog tape, which many other bloggers love too.

There was only one problem with this pattern: I didn’t really like the gray line down the middle. And I realize as I’m writing this that, oops, I didn’t take a picture of what that looked. Well, anyway, rather than trying to continue the individual stripes through that middle stripe, I decided to paint it white. After the white paint dried, I put down two more strips of painters tape and then used a brush (the roller was too wide) to apply three coats of paint. Like the herringbone stripes, I pulled the painters tape off shortly after I finished the last coat of paint.

Ta-daaaaa! Now our little gray table has a herringbone “inlay” you might say.

I’ve got to be honest with you. I can’t decide how I feel about this pattern.  Part of me wants to get rid of the stripes and add a more feminine design, something akin to my stenciled desk. Part of me sees an arrow every time I look at it.  So I didn’t put a protective coat on it yet. I want to live with it for a few days before I make a decision. If I decide to keep it, I’ll brush on a couple layers of Minwax Polycrylic in satin to give it a little sheen and protect the tabletop design.

But whatever I decide to do, this tabletop will likely stay painted. I like the way a design looks on a table that has raised edges like this.
And, of course, the before and afters:

Have you guys painted any furniture lately? Embraced this oh-so-popular chevron/herringbone trend? Come on peeps, I know you’ve got some cool stuff to show me.

Linked to: Saved by Suzy, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Primitive and Proper, Domestically Speaking, aka design, Somewhat Simple, The 36th Avenue, Miss Mustard Seed, Mom 4 Real, 504 Main, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Beyond the Picket Fence, Thrifty Decorating,  2805, At the Picket Fence, Primp, The Artsy Girl Connection, Southern Lovely, The Vintage Farmhouse, Common Ground, Decorating Insanity, Embracing Change, Redoux, The Shabby Nest, Homemaker on a Dime, Creations by Kara, Blue Cricket Design, WhipperBerry, Tatertots and Jello, The Scott’s Crib, Jillify It, Remodelaholic, The Crafty Blog Stalker

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36 comments

  1. I love the looks of this and it definitely brightens up that corner. I have been looking for a good sealer for painted furniture so I will give the Minwax a try. I'm so happy I came across your post!

    Reply

  12. I personally really like the change — and I'm totally digging grey lately. I just dyed my kitchen curtains from grey to brown and I love the change. I see what you mean about the arrow, but it's kind of subtle, especially when you have things on top of the table. And it adds a lot of light in that corner. Fabulous job!

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  26. Great transformation – really turned out awesome!!!
    Come back and link up again Thursday – I would love to have you!
    Stacey of Embracing Change

    Reply

  36. Wow, you've got a great eye and great instincts for what will work. The herringbone and Moroccan stenciling on your desk and side table are just gorgeous. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Reply

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