Oo La La Coco!

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!  We're still working to determine the extent of the flood damage.  I've been trying to work, paint some furniture, and be around for the two-hour windows the plumber and contractor give you for when they'll arrive (hate that!).  

Anyway, on to my little "Coco" table: Around here you'll often find government-issued furniture on Craigslist or in thrift stores.  These pieces are well made, but they usually have laminate tops.  I guess the thought is since they are going to be on military bases getting who knows what kind of treatment, they want the tops to be durable.  I always stayed away from them because latex paint doesn't adhere to the laminate (even with an oil-based primer, at least in my experience), and I never wanted to even attempt to pull off the laminate.  But that was before I discovered chalk paint, which is supposed to adhere to anything.

So when I found this table on Craigslist at a very reasonable price, I decided it would be the perfect trial piece to see how chalk paint did on laminate.  It's been in my stash for awhile now, but I decided to paint it while I was doing my Lucketts pieces.

(I know there's a typo in the watermark--saw it as I was loading the photo--but I'm too tired and time-crunched to go back into Photoshop to fix it. Sorry!)

What made the table stand out for me was the detailing--the curved bottom shelf and the corbels at each corner.

First I painted it in two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in "Coco."  This was my first time using the color, and I really like it--it's a gray/brown (none of my photos really get the color right).  It covered the laminate just fine, but the table was just a little too plain for me.  So I pulled out some white milk paint and a stencil.

I also painted a trim line on the corbels and the sides of the bottom shelf with the white. 

As you can see, I didn't worry about being precise with the trim painting.  I knew I was going to sand over it.

I wanted the stencil to look worn, like both it and the table had been around for awhile.  So I went over it and the rest of the top with a medium coarse sanding pad.  I followed that with a coat of clear wax, followed by a light touch of dark wax.  Then I went over the top again with a fine sanding pad because I liked the washed-out, worn look I had before waxing.

I did the same wax and sanding treatment on the bottom shelf, followed by a light distressing of the legs, corbels, and sides of the top and shelf. 

After letting everything set, I tried scratching the top with my fingernail, then by sliding a plate over it.  Nothing.  That paint isn't going anywhere! 

The chalk paint passed the laminate top test, and I love how the table turned out.

Oo la la!

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