From 1960’s to Contemporary Furniture

Bringing an old table into the hear and now…

My mum gave me this old 1960’s/70’s leaf table, when I bought my first flat.  I had no dining room,  only a galley kitchen and limited space in my lounge so a fold up table was perfect.

It was a stand tan brown ‘ the colour no one seems to likes anymore’  kinda satinwood veneer finish and some of the veneer was coming away from what appeared to be a plywood base.  It was time for a face lift, a revamp, an up-cycle, it needed something.

I set about giving the table a light sanding all over, then started painting the underside of the table first, using Annie Sloan’s Old White Chalk paint.  I find its often better to add a little water to the paint for the first coat to make it spread easier.  Then add another layer or two if needed when the first layer is good and dry.  After the under side of the table was done, I started on the legs.  Wanting to give the table a contemporary feel, I decided to give the legs a Matt Black finish to contrast with the black design I had planned for the top.  I then left the table for a couple of days to be sure everything was dry underneath before righting the table.

Now the top surface of the table needed a couple of coats of Annie Sloan’ Old White Chalk paint, once that was done I left it for another couple of days to be sure the paint was dry and ready to take my design.  However I gave the top a light sanding to smooth out the chalk paint and wiped the excess paint dust away after.

Finally! I could the get down to the part I love the most, The Arty Bit.  I drew my idea on to the table first, being careful not to make any mistakes, as its hard to remove errors from the chalk paint.  If you do make a error, paint over it and start again when its dry.  I used a compass to make the concentric circles and placed them wherever I felt they were needed, this is where ones’ artistic eye comes into the equation.  Painting circles and curvy lines comes easy to me being an artist, but if it doesn’t for you, my advice is practice a little first using a good Rigger Brush for long curvy or straight lines and short round headed brushes for the edges of the circles.  Filling in after painting the edges of your design is the easy part and you can use what ever brush you a comfortable with.