Unapologetically Colorful

I was recently approached by a coworker that dabbles in reading my blog. He said he can get on board with a lot of what I do and it looks good…but it’s just so colorful. I had to ask him “What about me says that my furniture should be dull?”

I’m loud, I laugh more than I should and I never make eye contact without a smile. BUT..but but but, I took this as a challenge. To me he wasn’t just saying that my style is colorful, he was telling me that I couldn’t do anything else. (It’s quite possible that he was just stating that he thought my furniture was bright, but I can’t just let sleeping dogs lie.)

So, I resolve(d) to complete a restoration project without putting my funky spin on it. Let’s see how I did…

This is how it started. Sad, lonely and separated from the glass that fits inside.

First I shop vac’ed the spider webs and lightly sanded the areas where the finish has worn down, but wasn’t completely gone. I know it’s dirty, but this was mostly evident around the wooden rim at the top. I wasn’t planning to put on new stain or polyurethane, but I wanted the “worn areas” to look a little more uniform, so I sanded it a bit to create a sort of sunburst affect.

Once the sanding was done I removed the metal flower plaques and scrubbed the wood with Murphy’s Oil soap. I was still left with quite a bit of dust so I pulled out my Pledge, which cleaned out the nooks and crannies that my fat sponge missed.

 

 

 

You can still see (now that it’s clean) that there is a big worn spot on the bottom level, so I sanded it a bit more to try to make it even and wiped it down again.

Now I did something that is ill-advised, to say the least. I sanded the metal…with an electric sander. I know, I know, it’s super dangerous, but I didn’t have any apple-cider vinegar and it probably wouldn’t have helped much anyway because I sanded off the bronze finish, not rust. I didn’t get sparks though, so that’s good…I haven’t burned down the house yet.

But look at those flowers shine! Next I used my go-to restorer, “Restor-A-Finish.” I didn’t want to stain or use any poly because I didn’t want it to look too finished; I like my naked furniture to look like it has gone through some hardship.

Once the restor-a-finish dried, I nailed the improved shiny flowers to the side, cleaned and replaced the glass top and stood back to admire my work.

It looks pretty good right? Well, all except for the fact that it bores me to death. I know that I did this to prove the point that I can do more than just paint and make things bright. And here is the proof. …But I don’t want proof anymore, I want a table that I like. Sooooooooo

I decided to bust out some Mod-Podge (are you the least bit surprised?) and slathered is all over the bottom level. Then I took a box cutter and scissors and cut around the outside so the fabric fit perfectly on the bottom. At the end of the day, it looked like THIS…

What can I say? If it comes to being vindicated or being in love with my work, I will choose love every single time.