You never know what you will see on the side of the road. I stopped by an estate sale a few weeks ago. They had all kinds of things and I stocked up. I picked up a cabinet that was in pieces, a black piano bench and a few other small things. They had a few other things I had my eye on, but they were priced a little too high for me. They had already graciously come down on the cabinet so I didn't feel right about asking them to come down on anything else. I went back the next day to see if they had lowered the prices and to see what was left. I picked up another little table. I still had my eye on a dresser that was incomplete and was in pieces but it was $35. I thought I could turn it into a bench but I had never tackled anything like that so I was hesitant to spend the money on it—so I passed on it. I thought about it all day and at the end of the day I went back to see if they would give me a deal on it. Well, they were putting all the remaining items on the curb for FREE. Let's just say I loaded up the car.
It is jammed to the rafters. I squeezed every little thing I could grab in there. I grabbed the dresser and a Victrola cabinet, a table that was in pieces and a plethora of other things. There will be some great projects coming up so stay tuned!
One of the pieces I grabbed was a little black fold-down table.
So this piece has definitely seen better days. To say it needed a little love is an understatement. It needed a whole lotta loving. This one took a group effort to bring it back to life. I had some help on this one—my BFF and her daughter, who often works on projects with me.
Although they were broken and scarred, this piece had great legs. I loved how the wood intertwined and created this beautiful design.
Miss L. started on the piece by sanding the top. She sanded and sanded and sanded it. We never got to bare wood—the black paint was so ingrained, it was never going to come off, but she got it to a nice patina.
We added a couple coats of Varathane Crystal Clear Satin Polyurethane to the top. It brought the table top to life and provides a nice protective seal for future use.
Next we glued the pieces of the legs back together, scraped off the decades old masking tape that had been tethering the separated pieces together and sanded it smooth when the glue had dried.
There was also a wire that appeared to be holding it all together, but once we snipped it, it didn't alter the stability of the piece so we just removed it. You can see the cabinet I picked up in the background—still working on that one!
The legs were painted with Rustoleum Chalked paint in charcoal and then distressed and finished with a coat of Varathane Crystal Clear Satin poly.
The fresh coat of paint really enhanced the beauty of these legs. And now that they were repaired, they looked even better.
Now it is a perfect little side table. It can be folded down to use part of it or both sides can be folded if you have a narrow space or for storage. I think this piece that was destined for a landfill will now have a long life.
I put it in the shop and it sold within a couple of days. It's always the ones I want to stick around for a little while that seem to fly out of my booth. I am glad it has a new home now.
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