Grey Areas

My bedside table was.... gross.

I inherited this from my Mom, I think.  I must have, because I don't recall buying it, and I certainly didn't steal it, so I think it was a Mom hand me down. Cute, but reaaaaaaaaly beat up.

 With the paint on, but not distressed yet.

 Phileppe says "Nice table, Mom!"

Man, I have been on a roll with my projects this past week! It's amazing what I can get done when I have the work schedule of a normal person - or no work schedule at all. HAha.

So, I had been pondering what color to do my bedside table in, since I am re-decorating our bedroom. We have the black Federal style dresser in there, and my (new) antique iron bed is also black. So I didn't want to do more dark colors. Nor did I want white. Or cream. I thought about green, but it just didn't go with my "neutral" vibe. I wanted something I could use in another room later if I want. But something that went in our bedroom decor now. I needed something in between "plain white" and "loud primary color" so..... a soft grey seemed like a good choice.

I mixed my own color, too: with paints leftover from other projects. Black from the dresser and "white sage" from the corner cabinet. I got a soft, chalky grey.

To get the aged appearance here, I first watered the paint down. And it's FLAT paint. I prefer to use flat paints for furniture re-dos; it distresses so much better and doesn't look "peely" like latex or even eggshell can.
Anyway, so I added a bit of water to my mixed up paint, to thin it a bit for not-so-thick coverage. Worked like a charm. The varnish underneath showed through in spots and looked perfectly aged.

Once it was dry, I went at it with sandpaper very lightly on the furthermost edges. Then I gave it a once over with poly.

Ta-da.

I love it; it's kind of "Frenchy" or Parisian looking.

Philippe loves it, too. Philippe is also kind of "Frenchy" and Parisian, come to think of it. How apropos. :)

I am also re-doing HIS bedside table but had to quit in the middle because the ikky old varnish was bleeding through the water based Killz, so it's off to Home Depot for something stronger to prime it with. Grrrrrr.

This step brings me all the closer to getting the bedroom done and doing a big reveal for you guys! Yay.