4/5/10

DIY addiction: I can't stop painting things


What is wrong with me? Every weekend I get the itch to paint something, anything.  Painting is so nicely mindless.  And you have the satisfaction of a very clear before and after.  And if you're someone like me, who gets the itch to change looks every half-decade or so, paint provides cheap flexibility.

I've been debating painting this coffee table.  It came into our lives many years ago - a somewhat classic, very sturdy, $10 garage sale piece.  One nice thing about buying things so cheap is that you feel free to experiment with them.

In the beginning, I painted it white.  It got dirty and scuffed up.  I painted it white again.  It got dirty and scuffed again. So I decided to give it the distressed look and had at it with a sander and a little green paint daubed on here and there.  And so it's been for about a year or so.  Until I finally HAD it up to HERE with the dirty scuffed look.

I have also been entranced lately by all the smoky grays floating round in the design world, most notably led by Abigail Ahern. I don't have the guts to paint a whole room or house smoky gray, and my husband would choke!  But a piece of furniture? That, I can do.  It's a start anyway.

And so I luckily found this $3 castoff paint color at Wal-Mart that turned out to be a perfect charcoal.  I felt a bit nervous painting it.  And of course my husband was a bit shocked at this sudden turnabout to what to his eyes appeared to be black paint at first glance.

But I love it now.  It's still very neutral, but it adds a magnetic masculine edge where there was once country white.  I'm still working on my "styling" ideas for the table, but I want to do some things that are a little organic, like maybe driftwood, or shells or a succulent arrangement. Or maybe a little bohemian... Or a little funky modern. Right now, I think my white rabbit skin (also causing horror for my husband) looks super chic laying on top of the dark gray.

So whaddya think?

5 comments:

  1. I love the dark grey. Much more chic :)

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  2. I go in painting phases too! Although sometimes I use spray paint!

    Love the table and the chic rabbit fur!

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  3. love the after color, I ant to paint with chalk paint our coffee table :)

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  4. The color on that table is fantastic!

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