How Not Screw Up a Painted Table

Okay, so let me start this post out by saying I had never painted furniture before painting this desk. At least I think it's a desk, or maybe a side table? If someone knows, please let me know, for now I'm calling it a desk. So, anyways painting furniture kind of scared me. I stared at the desk for a couple of months wanting to pain it but not sure. I was just really freaked out I was going to screw it up somehow. I have this weird issue that when I do something like this it has to be perfect, even though I'd never done anything like it before. 

I realized the desk had some issues already and the only way to fix it would be to paint it. I knew no matter what I did to it, it would look better than it did at that point. 

Sorry about the bad photo of the before desk, but I didn't realize I was going to blog about it. 

There are so many things wrong with this photo, but I'm just focusing on the desk! I had found it in our basement about 2 years after we moved into our home and brought it upstairs. The top of it was pretty much ruined from years of use. I thought it would be a good place for our daughter to do homework- she didn't by the way. It pretty much just got covered up with beads and unfinished projects! I figured if I added a couple of coats of a fresh colored paint I'd want to make sure it's nice and picked up all of the time.

Alright, here is what I used and how I updated the desk. I found everything I needed at Lowe's. You can certainly purchase these items at your favorite store, except for the name brand paint. I just went to Lowe's because it's super close.  

1. TSP Heavy Duty Cleaner

2. Rubber Gloves

3. Cleaning Sponges

4. 3M Fine Sanding Sponge

5. Kilz Odorless- Oil Based Primer

6. Valspar Signature, Semi-Gloss- Grass Stain & Monteray Bay Teal

7. Goof off- Not pictured

8. Rust-Oleum- Oil Rubbed Bronze

I will break this down into steps, just to make it a little easier to read. First off I wanted to make sure the desk was nice and clean and the TSP cleans and helps to remove some of the shine so the paint will adhere better.

1. I mixed up the TSP according to the directions in the yellow bucket, on the left. The         blue held water and you absolutely need to wear gloves, the TSP will burn your               beautifully manicured hands. 

 In this photo above my daughter had just finished wiping the desk down.

2. She used 2 sponges, one for the TSP and one for the water. Working in small sections       she wiped down the desk with the TSP and followed with a wipe down of water to             remove the TSP. Easy!

Okay, I have heard that you don't need to sand before using a oil based primer, but I didn't trust that so I went ahead and sanded.

3. I did hand sand it. I only need to hit the sides because the TSP worked really well. 

    I really just need to rough the surface up a little. This was an old piece of furniture 

    and it really didn't have any shine left to it.

Moving on to priming, which for some reason I love to use. I think it has to do with once whatever you're working on is painted white, it makes it look like a wide open canvas, just waiting for you to make it beautiful.

4. Even though I love this step, I was in the process of teaching my daughter how to paint     so I let her do it. She used a brush in the tight spots and a roller on the top. She did 

    give it 2 coats, which might be overkill, but whatever. I went ahead and sanded 

    between coats to make it nice and smooth, and get rid of a few drips. 

5. After I let the primer dry over night I went ahead and gave the desk it's first coat of 

    amazing Grass Stain color. I have seriously always wanted to paint something this           color and was so excited to use it! I used the same method to paint that my daughter       used to prime, brushed everything, but used a foam roller on the top. This photo was       taken after the first coat.

This one was taken after the second, which leads to the drawer...

I'm going to leave out the steps, because the drawer follows the same ones as the desk, except for the knobs.

This is why you always buy a test pot of paint before purchasing a gallon! When I put this paint on I loved it, but when it started to dry it became this super bright screaming blue. Seriously, if I would have held in up in my window, my neighbor across the street would have told me it was too bright! I still love it for an accent color, but I was planning on using it on a dresser. 

NO, FLIPPING WAY!

So, I brought it back to Lowe's and asked if they could darken if for me. At first they looked at me like I was a crazy person and I could tell they didn't want to do it, but the crazy person I am persisted. 

They ended up adding 1 ounce of black and it calmed the color down. I think half an ounce would have been better, but I loved it! Come to find out later what I should have done (and no one bothered to tell me) since the color was so dark, I should have used a tinted primer and the color would have been more true. Oh well, I'll do that next time!

6. Alright back to the steps. I could not afford new drawer knobs, so I spray painted             them instead, and I'm so glad I did. I think they turned out awesome!  The spray paint 
    I used had primer in it so I just needed to give them a few coats and they looked like 
    new. 

7. Step back and enjoy! When I finished this project, I just stared at the desk and smiled 
    like an idiot, and I may or may not have danced around the room. 

This project was my first painting project and I'm pretty sure it broke my fear messing things up, well not broke, but definitely softened it a little. I've been coming up with new projects constantly!  

Your turn, do you remember your first project? Were you scared or exhilarated, somewhere in between?

If you follow these steps and paint your own furniture, please post a photo or a link in the comments section. I would love to see them!