Before & After: Table Reveals Its Mid-Century Self

published May 22, 2015
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(Image credit: Atomic Magpie)

Sarah bought this table without seeing it in person. Though it was in rough shape and under decades of paint, she discovered something lovely when she stripped it:

(Image credit: Atomic Magpie)

From Sarah:

I’d been looking for a furniture makeover project for a while, and I found this beat up, dirty little end table on a local trash and treasure website. The photo of it was dim, and the table was covered in grime and a mound office supplies. Pretty easy to scroll past, but peeping out in front was one gorgeous tapered leg. Enough for me to snap it up for $10 without even seeing it in person.

There were several layers of paint over the original varnish, and I spent the better part of a day using an Eco-friendly paint stripper to strip it clean to the wood, which turned out to be gorgeous mahogany. The other fantastic feature I discovered was the brass ferrules (feet tips) that had also been covered under decades of paint.

Next I sanded the whole table with a block sander. With the condition of the wood being so good, I decided to stain rather than paint, and opted to go with Minwax Special Walnut stain. About 6 go-overs using a rag to stain and I had reached the color I wanted. In keeping with the mid-century feel of the table, I decided to add a pop of color to the bottom shelf, and went with a bright aqua blue. I finished the whole thing up with a coat of Minwax polyurethane and polished the brass feet with ketchup, an old trick I had heard about years ago.

This project took a weekend, and I’m beyond excited at the final outcome!

See more photos and details over on Atomic Magpie.

Thank you Sarah!