Annie Sloan Aubusson and Graphite Side Table Makeover

Recently, I have had the urge to either sell or repurpose everything in my house! Ha! Like, seriously though. I want to paint my kitchen cabinets, my dining room table, I want to find an old media cabinet to make new… I pretty much want to purge anything in my house that has that dark finish. I am over it.

My new table, after the makeover

Hubby and I had talked about how we wanted to get a different table to sit in between our recliners. The one we had was ok, but we had it since we first got married, and it was pretty warn.

Our old table

It was bigger than I had liked- and the finish had some flaws, it was warping, and just needed an overall makeover- which I was going to attempt. Then, one night as I was leaving my parents house, my mom asked me if I wanted my Great-Grandpa’s cigar table. She didn’t have a place for it any longer and was going to stick it on the back patio- and I saw a little shimmer of potential!

Here is what I liked about it. 1) It’s a family piece, he built it with his own two hands and I feel like I have a little piece of family history here with me. As I was sanding I could smell his cigar smoke coming out of the wood. 2) I love that there are three shelves, so not everything has to be sitting out on top. 3) It was smaller and less intrusive than the other one.

The table in the middle of the sanding process.

I decided to go with Annie Sloan paint. I hadn’t used it before, but everyone talks about how easy it is and how there isn’t any prep work needed. I had to sand it a little because there was a clear laquer on it that was peeling off in strips; I didn’t want pieces of that to get stuck into the paint. Then I went to a local supplier and chose Aubusson blue. I wanted an almost navy color and this seemed to be the closest.

I was a little surprised when I got this color after the first coat. It was much lighter than I though it would be. I liked the color, but I have almost this exact color on my walls, and I didn’t want it to match. So I headed back downtown to pick something else up to mix with it during the second coat.

I gave it a light sanding, then decided to give it a second coat of the Aubusson mixed with ASCP Graphite. Then I gave it a wash in Graphite with some water- I wanted some darker accents.

After both coats of paint and the wash, before the waxing.

I loved how quickly it dried. I was waxing it within the same day as I
painted it. Before waxing I roughed it up a little to let some of the
natural color come through.

I gave it a good coat of wax, let that dry, then waxed it a second time and buffed it till it was pretty and shiny!

Here it is in it’s place- much darker than it was after the first coat- which I love!

I am SO happy with the way it turned out!

I would do the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint again in a second! It was easy to use, and although it seems pricey- it goes a LONG way- I just used a little sample size for this makeover. I also loved that there are low VOC’s so I could paint inside and not have to worry about what to do with the kids.

Here is another final shot- see the color on my walls? And please… ignore that little pouty face- she had just told me that she was sad because I wouldn’t let her have something… she perked right up though! 🙂 She usually does.