Small Table Makeover
I get a lot of questions about how to make white paint look old or aged or antiqued. It’s a popular look. White furniture, especially if the paint is white white, is kind of blah without some kind of special finish.
The small table makeover today has a painted top and I left the original stain on the base or legs as is with just a bit of cleaning. I have a very, very, short video on the antiquing process too.
This is how the table looked when I purchased it. I bought it from an acquaintance who was downsizing her stash of to-do projects. I paid $12 for the table.
I did more work to this table than I needed to but I’ll get into that later in the post.
The table top was either missing or a mess because Debbie had put a new top on the table before I bought it. The top is just a basic piece of wood painted white.
The spindle legs and feet were missing a bit of the original stained finish but I decided to work with that instead of painting. The table was too pretty to change it completely.
I decided to paint the original table top apron along with the new top.
The Just Duckie color from Miss Lillian’s No-Wax Chock Paint I’m addicted to was my choice for the table top. But after painting the top blue (Just Duckie) I decided white was a better contrast to the base of the table. See, I could have left the top as it was and moved on to the next step. I went through 2 paint steps I didn’t need to do.
Next I distressed the white paint just a bit using my favorite flexible sandpaper.
To age the white paint I used Caromal Colours Toner. This is one of my favorite DIY products. The process is as simple as brushing the toner onto the paint and then wiping it off with a damp rag until you get the desired effect. Easy as pie.
You can see how I use the toner in the video tutorial. And just to be clear, you can use the toner on any color paint, not just white. I have a great project here where I used toner on black paint….5 Steps To Antique Painted Furniture.
At one time I sold the toner on Etsy but had to let that go to concentrate on projects . You can buy the toner at Caromal Colours here .
For the base I just did a quick cleaning with Simple Green and then I freshened the finish with Howard’s Feed n Wax.
The table top turned out great and I’m glad I didn’t paint the base. It’s not perfect but that’s okay…..because the table is old and the little imperfections add character.
I’m taking the table to my booth and the price is really cheap.
I took photos of the table in the orange and turquoise bedroom. Be sure and watch the video showing how I used the toner below….
Antique or Age Paint
Find the products used in the makeover on the Petticoat Junktion Amazon page here.
As always, thanks for being here and have a great day, Kathy (p.s. leave a note, I read them all)
Kathy Owen is the creative guru, content creator, photographer, and worker bee behind the popular Home Décor DIY Blog Petticoat Junktion. She focuses on reinventing found treasures and decorating her home Get all the nitty gritty on Kathy here.
Deborah Redfield says
I love the light/dark combo for this little table! Thank you for posting the Caromal Toner link–I couldn`t remember the name, but it is what I am looking for, after several days of needing it. I just ordered it.
I learned a valuable lesson in purchasing supplies. I hadn`t done any painting for a while, so when I decided to (finally) paint a small table with turned legs and stretchers, I thought that one bottle (large) of chalk paint would be enough for two coats. Now I`m stressing that I will have enough for the second coat, I tried ordering the paint at Joann`s, only to learn that they no longer have the color I need and it has been discontinued.
I remembered that you always keep the leftover paint, and also that you look for the mix-errors at the store. From now on, I am going to buy at least two bottles of paint. I`m sure that a small project will come along in the future on which the left over paint could be used. 🙂
Kathy Owen says
Just sent you an email.
Wendy Ebright says
Table turned out great! I am going to try some the products you use in your projects…been using the same chalk paint for a long time and it would be good to try something new. thanks! oh yeah…the paint brush you love? where did you get that?
wendy
Kathy Owen says
Hey Wendy, You can find the chalk brush on the Petticoat Junktion Amazon page here along with my favorite diy products….https://www.amazon.com/shop/petticoatjunktion/