yes, it's been awhile.

Hello all. I have not dropped off the face of the sewing earth, I have merely been visiting the moon of furniture. It is quite the place-- full of high stress and time is sucked into a black hole until you realize that you've spent two and half weeks refurbishing a table that was in perfect condition in the first place. I just had a burst of energy three weeks ago to paint my black table white and gray.... this is what pinterest has done to me: given me inspiration that leads to sleepless nights inhaling paint fumes in my apartment (I have no garage or workshop).

I saw this furniture DIY on pinterest and was dying to do something like it. I scanned the furniture in my apartment and decided on the table; I had too much black in the place anyway. I'm going to wait till Friday to show you all the finished product... yep, this blog post is a whole week long of details! yippee for a whole week of new posts, right!?....right?

alright, alright. here's a sneak peak:

So I started by going to Home Depot and after consulting many furniture how to's (here, and here, and here) I decided on using oil-based primer and water-based paint. Here is the rest of the stuff I needed:

Top to bottom row, Left to Right:

1. Water based paint

2. Floetrol: helps reduce paint-stroke lines as you paint....supposedly. I didn't really notice a difference. 

3. Water-based top coat

4. oil-based primer in paint or spray (spray was easier but way more expensive. I needed about 4 cans just to do four chairs). 

5. lint-free wipe cloths

6. Purdy paint brush. I scrapped this early on and just used a small roller... you'll see why. 

7. Painter's tape: a MUST for the corner details on the table.

8. A sander...but not the dinky one pictured. You need a heavy duty power sander. That dinky one couldn't sand down a chopstick.

underneath everything: canvas drop cloth.

So, first step after I got home from Home Depot: SANDING. I did NOT SAND ENOUGH AT ALL. I really only took off the top veneer coat...a wrong doing. I really should have gone all the way through the paint and touched the wood. I think my table would have looked better afterward if I had. 

Here we go with the power sander! I have a Ryobi sander. 

TIP: don't wear your favorite Ann Taylor sequin top. Change into your "painter's clothes".

This is about as far as I got sanding. See? Totally not enough. A black table turned to a white table needs much more prep than I thought.....as you will see in tomorrow's exciting post about....

PRIMING!!!