Behold, a "scuffed table":

In no world is this table merely scuffed. Ha. 

I bought it, kind of as a joke, because it was only $5.

I brought it home and sanded it, of course. But the top was still very damaged. 

Luckily, my dad sweetly offered to make a new top for it by gluing together some pieces of wood and then routing the edges. 

And I primed it.

Unfortunately, things really paused there for a while, because interestingly enough, I could not seem to take on other projects while also working my rear off at nursing school.

(As I say, you can only slay at so many things simultaneously. We have to make choices, and I chose nursing school.)

ANYWAY.

When we last left off, I had bought some purple/gray paint to try.

This was kind of a fail, and you can read the story of how I tried it on a rehabbed fruit crate from the abandoned house. 

In conclusion, I decided not to use this for my scuffed table at all. 

So, I went in an entirely different direction and bought a muted green, which was kind of fun because I have never used green paint on furniture before

(Although by now you also know I used this on my trash-picked little table!)

I used the green on everything but the top, which I opted to stain.

The drawer pulls I used are actually a gift from a local reader; she rescued them from a dresser that was out for trash pick-up, and she had some extras. Thank you, Suz!

(The readership here is full of kindred spirits. I would 100% rescue knobs from a trashed dresser. Ha.)

I needed some extra long screws to get these through the drawers, but I could not find any options besides silver. And I thought gold would look better with this color scheme.

So, I used a birthday offer from Ace Hardware to buy a small can of gold spray paint, and I just sprayed the silver screws.

Easy peasy, and they look a little more elevated now. 

So! That is the end of this very long scuffed table saga.

I'm so happy it's done and in my living room now! And so is Chiquita, apparently.

As I said last week about my trash-picked table, I don't know for sure if I'd pick this up if I had to do it over.

But since I have a blog, sometimes it does make sense to do something that would otherwise be nonsensical, just for the entertainment it provides to everyone here. 😉 

P.S. Remember when I deconstructed trail mix to see if it was cheaper to make it or buy it? That's another undertaking that only made sense because I am a blogger. Ha. 

The post The scuffed table (at long last!!!) appeared first on The Frugal Girl.

I was like, "Ohhh, hey, hey, hey, not on my watch!", turned my van around, and picked it up.

It sat untouched for the rest of the semester, like most non-school things in my life. Ha.

It definitely needed a refinish because the previous paint job was dirty, but also sloppily done. 

So after I graduated, I started sanding it, and that's where things went sideways. 

First of all, the paint seemed like some kind of latex wall paint, and it was getting gummy when I tried to sand it. Strike one.

Then, even worse, it started peeling up in spots, sort of like stretchy rubber cement. That left an uneven surface, which meant I was going to have to actually remove all the paint rather than just scuffing it up.

I scraped some of it off, but that was too laborious to do on the whole thing.

So I decided to use paint stripper, which is not my most favorite thing to do. 

This table had an unfortunate number of exposed surfaces that needed to be stripped, so it was not a quick task.

Finally, I could proceed with the priming and painting, which was honestly the easiest part.

And since I already have primer and paint here, this part cost me nothing out of pocket. 

Also, the nice thing about the priming and painting is that it can be done indoors with a drop cloth. That is way better than trying to work outside at this time of the year. 

And here's what it looks like in the end:

Remember how I sorta regretted working on that free rain-damaged Ikea chair, just because it ended up being so much more time-consuming than I anticipated?

This table felt kinda like that.

But on the other hand, in both cases, I did save an item that someone else was just going to throw away. 

And I did end up with a nice-looking, useful item in both cases. 

Also: I worked on this table before taking my NCLEX, and I listened to NCLEX review lectures while working on it.

So the time I spent was not a waste.

In the end, it's all good. Still, if I could go back, I'm not sure I would have trash-picked this particular item! 

P.S. I did finally finish the scuffed table too; look for it in a post soon. 🙂 

The post An ill-advised trash-picked painting project appeared first on The Frugal Girl.

...some of you had questions/comments that I wanted to answer in a post so that all of you could see the answers. So, here you go.

I wish I was nearby & could be your apprentice for a few projects, and then learn to do them myself. I’m always inspired by your work!

It would be so much fun to have a furniture rehab class with all of you. If only there were 83 copies of me to travel around and do that. Ha.

But I also want to encourage all of you by saying that no one ever taught me how to paint furniture.

I painted some walls at my townhouse back in the early 200s, and then in 2005 at my next house, I did a lot of spackling, sanding, and painting of walls. But no furniture!

In 2007 or so, though, I got a nightstand from Freecycle, and I decided to try painting it.

I am sure that if I did it again now, I'd do a better job, but it turned out well enough to give me inspiration to do more painting.

And now I have eleventy zillion furniture painting projects under my belt.

I'm really glad I tried that first nightstand because since then, I've learned lots of stuff by trial and error, and now I know a lot about furniture painting.

A few things that make a good first project:

• do something with simple lines. Ornate pieces with lots of curves and detail make it harder to sand and paint.
• do something small. It's much less overwhelming to do a nightstand than a whole tall bookshelf (or your kitchen cabinets!)
• pick something that doesn't need a bunch of repairs. A simple paint job is a good start. As you get more comfy, you can tackle things like removing veneer, fixing broken pieces, changing hardware configuration, and so on.

I wish I had the courage to try this myself. I have had the same stool for more than 20 years now. It could really need a fresh coat of painting…..

Ok, I want to tell you something that helps me with courage: start with something that is so ugly/worn that you couldn't possibly make it worse.

It's even better if that thing is free.

That way, it's very low-stakes! The odds are so good that you will make the item better than it was before. And even if you don't, it's no big deal!

I think your stool sounds like a perfect first project; it's small, you already own it, and it's super worn. I encourage you to give it a try. 🙂 You might be delighted with the results.

Also, something to remember is that paint is not permanent. If you tackle a project and decide you don't love it, you can always sand it smooth and start fresh. It's ok. 🙂

I was just wondering what steps you take for cleanup of the brushes? It is such a silly question, but somehow, after painting, I always seem to stumble on the cleanup. Do you have any pro tips?

Sure, I can tell you what works for me.

I always do multiple thin coats of paint (that makes for a long-lasting, smooth finish), so in between coats, I cover the brushes/tray/roller with plastic to keep them from drying out.

I have some plastic cases for larger brushes and rollers (the type you use to paint walls), and I do like those.

But for the small materials I use for furniture, I often just put the whole mess inside of a plastic grocery bag and make it sort of air-tight. This would not be sufficient for a long storage time, but for a couple of hours, it's fine.

When I get near the end of the project, I try to get the last bit of paint brushed/rolled on so that there's not a bunch left on the brushes and rollers.

After that, I usually soak the roller and brushes in water overnight and then I rinse them. The soak helps to loosen up the paint and it makes the rinsing way easier.

Then I squeeze/pat the brushes/rollers dry and let them air dry before storing them for the next use.

As long as your paint and primer are water-based, you do not need paint thinners and mineral spirits. Water works just fine and is way way less stinky.

I hate using mineral spirits. Blech.

Do you have any other painting questions/comments? Let me know!

P.S. At the bottom of this other post, there's a list of all the supplies I use when I paint furniture.

P.P.S. Just to be clear, it's totally ok if you don't want to paint furniture. But if you DO have an itch to try, I'm cheering you on. 😉

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