End Table Re-do

Since my husband and I married almost four years ago, we've steadily been changing out mismatched bachelor furniture for nice, married couple furniture. It's not like we didn't WANT every single kind of wood to be represented in our living room. Ok, that was sarcasm. I don't like "matchy matchy" in home decor, but I do like cohesion. I'd been wanting to buy some new end tables forever, but couldn't find the color I wanted. We have very dark floors and very dark furniture, so I wanted something much lighter. Also, I have a hard time letting furniture go, because I feel like it's wasting something.

We'd had this mission style end table in our living room since we got married. It was something my husband inherited from his parents and it had been abused by our dogs feet. She likes to climb on furniture like she's a cat you see. . . Anyways, I figured I could do something with this little end table to work it into our new grown up decor, and here's what I came up with:

What I used to makeover this table:

• 1 quart of leftover paint from our living room walls
• 1 sanding block & 1 angled paintbrush
• 1 new drawer pull from Home Depot
• Black acrylic artist's gesso (I'm sure you could also use black craft paint - just use something that's durable).

Total spent: $2.99 on the drawer pull, everything else we had laying around the house.

The pattern I printed off from my computer and traced it onto the table in pencil.  I freehanded painting inside the lines.

Things I learned while doing this:

1. There's no need to paint the inside of the drawers. It's a waste of time and can be frustrating.
2. Go with a flat paint - it's less sticky and dries quicker.
3. Wait for the first coat to dry completely before applying the next.  This is hard if you are impatient like me.

Where I succeeded:

1. I think this table is much more elegant and our style.
2. Spent very little for something that now looks brand new.
3. The color matches the stripe in our living room walls since I used the leftover paint.

Where I failed:

1. I didn't polyurethane the whole piece when I was done with it.  The gesso is not as durable as I hoped and polyurethane would help seal the entire piece.
2. I used a high gloss paint for the base color.  It took forever to dry.
3. I probably could have spent more time sanding.

Overall I'd say I did pretty well.  I'm definitely looking forward to more furniture painting project in the future. Here it is in the living room: