For those who blog…do you ever go back and see all of the draft posts you started and never finished? Heh…that’s me tonight!
4 years ago, I designed this table and asked my carpenter friend to build it. And this lonely post has sat in drafts ever since.
It’s such an old post that WordPress has since changed its complete layout and I have no idea how this post will look once published. And it was so long ago that I still had a little workshop to build and paint furniture. 
Anyway….this piece started out as brand spankin’ new wood. I bought the fun mid-century legs on etsy.
I started by staining the wood in a dark stain. Then I dry-brushed with various colors of white, off white, grays, and even some hints of blues.
Dry-brushing is when you make the paint very watery…like the consistency of milk. You dip your paint brush into the paint, then wipe the paint brush on the side of the paint can to get most of the paint off. In fact, I often take a rag to remove most of the moisture from the brush. The effect is that you’re barely brushing any color onto the wood.
To achieve a layered look, continue to brush various colors onto the wood, then wipe it off with a rag to get the bottom colors poke through.
I took the photo below just a few weeks ago as I re-finished the table. This table gets daily use and suffers the abuse of syrup, juice, ketchup, bbq sauce and whatever else the kids can offer up during meals.
After several layers of different colors, I sealed this piece with 3 coats of Modern Masters’ Dead Flat. Then 2 coats of Annie Sloan Clear wax. The mix of these two products has held up and this table doesn’t get water ring stains or other stains. I expect this top coat to last at least 2-3 years, but could easily re-wax if needed.
As you can see, the finish is absolutely matte. No shine, no shimmer. Just looks like the side of a barn. Hope you enjoyed this walk back in time with me. I’m sure I’ll find a few more neglected draft posts to publish soon! 🙂
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