Maison Blanche Pewter Organza Topped Table

Summer of 2013 I picked up this scratched table for $7.50.

Before Christmas I put it in place in all it's beat up glory to see if I was going to like the size.

I did.

I brought this garage sale table home for a few reasons, one of which being it wasn't gonna break the bank.  

Another reason - it was larger than my current family room table.  

I liked the wood doodads on the side that looked like big head tacks.  I could picture them with a faux metal look.

I also was happy that it had a bottom shelf, although I haven't decided yet if I'll use the shelf to display something, or put baskets on the bottom to hold stuff. 

I knew wheels could be attached to move it out of the way for vacuuming, all I had to do was ask the man with the tools.   

Then before I could blink and a whole year before I got around to painting it, Brawn had put those wheels on it.  He must of believed I was gonna hop right to painting the table..... ha!

I gathered my supplies and with no tutorial, no idea what I was doing, decided I was giving this a faux metal look, and hoping it would turn out.  

The past few years I have gained enough confidence in knowing that if it didn't turn out I could paint over it.  I also knew if that happened it could take another year before I got back to working on it.

First the whole thing received a coat of Maison Blanche Wrought Iron.  This was more than a two step process, not because it had to be, but because I painted till I got the look I wanted on the top.

After the black dried I did a wash of white over it, then a mixture of watered down black with a hint of white, which if you remember back to first grade, makes gray.

I painted and wiped, wiped and painted, and just kept at it till I was satisfied it wasn't too black, wasn't too white and was just the right gray.

This was the first time I used Pewter Organza and I really liked it.  Maison Blanche has a whole bunch of metallic colors, and I picked the pewter in hopes it would match the idea in my head.    

I wanted to turn the wood into a faux brushed nickle, weathered aluminum, or a zinc style.

I left the legs black but I did a slight white wash on the bottom shelf, which you can't  see from the photos.

I used off white paint and went around all the little doodads and in the cracks so they had a white haze in their crevices for age.

All the little dents and scratches ended up being part of the metal look patina.

I also wanted the cracks lighter than the top, not dark like they were turning out, so I went back with a small brush and painted and wiped a gray white mix in the lines.

Here is the top before any wax but with the light gray in the grooves.  Some of these photos were taken at night because I wanted to get another coat of something on before bed and to dry overnight.

I used both clear and brown wax on it, and let them both settle into different areas of the top and the lines. 

Did I mention I wanted a metal look?

I think I achieved that.

I think this is one of those projects that actually looks better in person.

Not too bad for a beat up $7.50 table.

Once I figure out what to store on the bottom shelf besides 100 remote control's - none of which I know how to operate - I'll let you see the whole thing.

But for now it provides a larger area to put our feet up, and set bowls of popcorn.  And now I have no excuse not to suck up any kernels that roll under it, because I can wheel it out of the way to vacuum.

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