Coffee Table inspired by an Ikea hack

On the blog City Farmhouse, I saw a charming family room makeover that inspired me. One of the projects there was a makeover of an Ikea coffee table. You should definitely check out that blog to see what a great job she did. It reminded me that I had a similarly shaped Ikea coffee table in my garage and maybe something similar could be done with it. It had a big gouge in the top from when my last house was being painted to get it ready for sale.

I had my dad put some wood on top and then I dragged it unpainted across the country to deal with it. Of course, once I got here, I wish I had dealt with it before the move. With a lot of chalk painting projects, I think I want to rough it up- chains, hammer, fake worm holes like you see on so many great blogs. But once I got to dealing with the table - well, I thought I would leave it in new shape and let my kids play all over it and let it get what they call patina naturally.

Here is what it looked like when I got started:

First I did a quick layer of Annie Sloan Old White which is my go to color.

Then I added some soft layers of Paris Gray and Coco. Dry washing is something I want to keep working on as I don't seem to get the softness that some people do. I was going for a beachy, driftwood feel. I think if I try this again in the future, I will test one of the newer beach driftwood stains I have seen recently.

I added some clear and dark wax and left it in the early morning sun and off I went to pick granite for the new counter tops. And, of course, half way to the granite place, the skies opened and rain came down. Luckily, we were able to do what we needed to and get home before the storm really hit our area. It made picking granite a lot easier because my mind was on the table.

Here is the table in the room. As I almost always do, I will add more dark wax and rough it up a bit once it has been lived on some.

Once I took this picture, I knew something needed to be done with the builder's grade, found everywhere fireplace. So I gave it a coat of Paris Gray and it looked much better.

Two things, first, this is the first time I have had a really hard time getting chalk paint to adhere so if anyone else was to try it, you should prime it first. Secondly, Paris Gray is an odd color for me. When I first put it on, it looks too gray and then once you wax it up, it looks a lot better and it gets much richer. This part of the room is definitely a work in progress. It needs more on the walls and some sort of rug here. I got the fireplace screen new in the box for five dollars at the Habitat Restore. If the Restore is not already on your secondhand shop route, you should definitely add it.