End Table Reveal

Hello all! Remember back here when I showed you the two end tables Beeb and I picked up for a steal? Well, I've been working on them every spare minute I've had the past few days, and they are finally ready for you to feast your eyes upon :)

Here is one of them, as they started out.

The first thing I did was sand them, which may or may not have been necessary, but I did it mostly because I got to use my electric sander for the first time. Woot! After that I primed them. I only did one coat, but I probably would have been better off if I had done a coat or two more.

Next came the spray paint. I used Rustoleum Ivory. After a few coats, I was getting this weird uneven pattern on the top of the tables, and I was worried it was because I had sanded and/or primed unevenly.

Can you see it there? It really was only bad if you looked at it in a certain angle and in the right light, but it still bothered me. Made me toss and turn and have dreams of angry table judgers while I let it dry overnight. Luckily though, I didn't have to re-sand, prime, and paint. I just gave it a million bajillion few more coats, and problem solved. My next problem to tackle was the drawers. The old handles had left round indents in the drawers that my new handles left visible. To fix that, I just used some wood filler and sanded it down once it had dried.

I had the handles already from a pack I had picked up a Target a few months ago on clearance. I think I got 6 of them for around $10 total.


Once that was all finished, I had one more decision to make. To glaze or not to glaze? The tables had some detail on the front that I thought might turn out nicely with glaze, so I went for it. Since the new drawer handle has brown tones and the tables are going in a room with brown, blue, and cream, I decided to mix my glaze with brown paint as opposed to black. I wanted to use some glaze I had bought for a previous project last fall, but this is what I found.

Funkay. I think I added some gold paint directly to the can. I'm sure through some laws of science and chemistry and who knows what else, that led to that blue schmiss. So out for a new can of glaze. And a sample size can of brown paint. Here are the two of them, one glazed and one not.

To glaze furniture, you just have to pick up some Faux Glaze (I use Behr, which I got at Home Depot) and the color of regular paint you want the glaze to be. You can have the paint mixed in there at the store, but I would only do that if you plan on glazing in that color with every project. In my case, I don't necessarily think I want to glaze everything brown, so I bought a sample size of brown paint for $2.98 and mixed it myself at home in a separate container. That way I have lots of glaze left for future projects that can be any color my heart desires.


The directions on the glaze can say 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint, but I ended up with almost one to one. The more paint you add, the darker it will be. Once you've got the paint mixed, you brush it on the furniture over the cracks and details with a regular paint brush and then wipe away the excess. I keep a wet rag and a dry rag handy and use the wet one first. The glaze that's left over will stay and really bring out the details!


I learned everything I know about glazing from Brooke over at All Things Thrifty. Stop over there to see her post "Glazing 101" for more details and lots of glazing projects that she has done in the past.

So I polled Beeb as well as the neighbors for opinions on glazed vs. unglazed, and the glazed table won by a unanimous vote. Glazing ensued, until finally, they were FINISHED. And, drum roll please, here they are, in all their glory!

I'm so happy with how they turned out!!! I can't wait to put them in the guest room with some cutie lamps maybe and/or flowers...baskets...books...the possibilities are endless. And, because who doesn't love a good before and after?

So there you have it. What do you think? Do you agree that glazing was the way to go? I'd love to hear some comments!

I linked up!