Blue Happy Living

There are lots of things from the 80’s that are great and many that are not so great. Some furniture in the 80’s went really deep into the country decor than others. Do you remember the country blue with white geese. I do it was every where even in mine and Greg’s apartment. Thank goodness it went away with the 80’s and hopefully will never return.

I have this coffee table from the 80’s that is stained that orange brown color with an oval top and heavy base. Not something that would fit into the style of today. With paint, fabric and padding I’m gonna change all of that and bring it into todays style.

  
First things first I cleaned it really good before painting. I’m doing this piece for my friend Andrea so she picked the fabric and the color. I think she is going for a neutral look because she is using it in her bedroom. Normally 2 coats of chalk paint would be just fine but this orange stain didn’t want to go away so a 3rd coat it is.  Once all 3 coats are dry I started the sanding process.  When I sand I don’t grind really hard I just dust over the edges so it gives it a slight worn look.  Before I can move on to the clear coat wiping it down and making it clear of all the sanding dust is important.  I finished the painted areas off with 3 coats of clear finish.  I did so many coats because this is going to be used as a bench to sit on.  Which means it can be bumped with shoes, the clear coat will protect it and make it easy to wipe clean.

  
At this point it is no longer a coffee table from he 80’s it has become a bench for the end of Andrea’s bed. I wrapped the top of the table in batting several times to give it a nice cushion. I attached the batting with a staple gun all along the under edge. Cutting the fabric is easily done. Stretch out the fabric on a table and lay the table top down on the fabric. Cut the fabric leaving enough to fold back to the trim edge of the table.  I used upholstery nails to secure it down, placing them about an inch and a half apart.

  
From the 1980’s ugly to 2016 beautiful. This is going to be an amazing piece for Andrea’s bedroom. I love taking things that are out of date and style and give them a new look. Sometimes we have to think out of the box and pull things together to make them fit our own style.  I would like to challenge you to find something  in your home that has seen better days and give it new life.  Paint is cheap and if it’s from your home its free.  I use American Decor chalk paint from Michael’s.  It is one of the better priced chalk paints out there.  Make sure you take a before and after picture and send them my way.  I would love to share them on my blog.  Lets all revive something this spring.

Tuesday blog will be another redo project so come on back to read up on that.  I hope you have a fantastic Blue Happy Monday.  Remember it’s the best day of the week!