Fab furniture flippin’ contest, side table turned into play table

I am on a serious furniture refresh kick lately, they are so fun to do and the instant improvement is my favorite. I am not a patient person, sure a full room renovation is wonderful and awe worthy, but that takes time. Painting a piece of furniture that was tired or on it’s way to the dumpster gives it an instant face lift and I like seeing those instant results. This  side table turned into play table that I am sharing is part of a bigger project, the Fab furniture flippin’ contest, the theme of this months challenge is A fresh start. This is a new decorating challenge for me, one that I am pinching myself I get to be a part of!

**This is a sponsored post, I was provided with the chalk paint for this project but my opinions are my own**

Being a home decor blogger I get to take part in some fun things, and this is one of them for sure. The full details and all of the others linking up can be found at City, suburb, sanity and Thirty eighth street. Not only is this a fun decorating challenge, it is a contest and I am one of the ones you can vote for! Granted, I have seen a few of the entries and am inspired beyond belief with them which means my chance of winning is a little less. It is ok, I got to work with DecorArt and their Americana chalky paint finish, I was familiar with this paint before but had never personally worked with it. I have to say, I loved working with this paint. It had such an ease to it when brushing the paint on, covered great and I did not need to sand my side table at all. Yay for no sanding!

I have slowly been revamping Nora’s bedroom, I added a simple window seat to her bedroom, which she adores. She and I are working on a gallery wall with some fun prints and various collections which I hope to share soon. We redid her room last year, but the needs of her room have shifted so quickly. I hope to have a few tiny alterations to her room done soon and I can reveal her new bedroom. She is not a big time toy player. She will play pretend games with her brothers, read, or draw. The one main-stay for her are a few doll houses she has. She plays with these like crazy. I picked up a table from Goodwill that was $4, was almost exactly what I was hoping to find to store her dollhouses and gear into. It only took me going to three different Goodwill’s to find it. Which I am not complaining about at all, I had my littlest little Gavin with me, we lunched, shopped, gossiped, laughed and found this table (among a few other things). It is real wood and sturdy, just stuck in the 80’s.

I knew I wanted to go bright with this table, her room has a pink, green and tiny spots of turquoise in it. I can have more fun in my kids’ bedrooms with colors which I take full advantage of. The color I selected is a beautiful green that is called “New life”. I felt it fit in with the theme of A fresh start, I chose a light satin varnish to go along with it. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but these two together are a stunning combo!

The brilliance of this Chalky finish is that there is no prep needed, no sanding, stripping or roughing up the finish on the furniture. Wipe it down to get rid of the dust and start painting. I told you I am not a patient person that chalk paint is perfect for that, I get results right away.

The above picture is with one coat of paint.

I wanted a clear and clean finish for this, so another coat was put on. A lot of people assume that chalk paint means you have that shabby chic or distressed look. You can do that with these paints, along with mixing the colors to create a custom color. But, I prefer a clean look with not a lot of fuss. I decorate with bright and busy patterns in my home, I like to keep the furniture to a calm level.

Here it is after the 2 coats. Be sure to wait between coats for it to dry fully.

Next, time to make this shine! Because it is in Nora’s bedroom where she has a bright pink desk, I knew I could bring the drama a little and chose a light satin varnish to go on top. It adds a little sheen to it.

As you can see the difference in the above picture with the varnish on the top of the table and the non-varnished part towards the bottom.

I love this color!

With this being for Nora’s bedroom I can get a little whimsy and fun. I purchased this tape that is a fun and busy pattern, it just happens to be the same bright pink of her desk.

I pushed it down onto the table in one corner the pulled it along the top edge. I knew I wanted to add some kind of detailing to this table, something fun and colorful. Adding a wood piece was my initial plan but this is a fun and simple alternative.

I felt the bulk of the table required two rows of the colorful tape. I lined them up perfectly to make it appear as if they were one solid trim.

Here is the beauty all jazzed up and done! I think this fits in with the Fab furniture flippin’ contest,  a fresh start. I may not be a Doctor but I sure did bring this table back to life!….. Yes, that was my attempt of a joke, I am here every day for your entertainment!

Now all of the beautiful lines and details of this table are able to be seen.

I was antsy to get it set up in her bedroom. I organized her dollhouse’s and accouterments in the bottom portion, a perfect storage area.

I shopped her bedroom for all of the rest. She has little knick-knacks all over her room, and I found a few cute options to set on this table.

A tiny Nora picture in this frame, I cannot bring myself to update it, she was not even two here. Where does the time go?

I created these butterfly glass hurricanes almost two years ago. They were so simple to make, although if you go to the tutorial be warned that this was in month 2 of my blogging journey and the pictures are rough. It is ok though, the process is explained, the idea is out there for people to use. That is the goal around here, I just get to look and see how I have upped my picture game since then.

I am not sure how much longer this sweet and girly bedroom will last for my 8 year old. She is quickly growing and I am sure rounding up to the “I hate pink” phase soon. Every girl seems to go through it, then she grows up and  has a girl of her own and the pink love is back in full force. Just the circle of life my friends.

 

I think this side table turned into play table can be deemed a success! It functions, it went from tired and old to bright and whimsical, the table fits perfectly in her bedroom.

The subtle lines in this table are something I did not even notice before it was painted. They all blended in together before.

This is where the reality of my home, and this blog are shown in full force. Nora was not having my cute set up of books and butterfly hurricanes. Those got set back on her desk and her dollhouse is set in it’s rightful home. Nora runs this show in her room, I am just here to grant her wishes and make it happen. Keepin’ it real around here. A perfectly styled home only lasts long enough for me to snap the pictures.

It does still look adorable though. The fact that it functions so well and is not just taking up space in her room is really nice. We have a good sized home, but as usual we can always use more space. Every single inch of it needs to be used smartly, no “just because” decor around here.

If you are familiar with this blog you should remember that I had two spiffy and new poufs in her bedroom, right in this spot. They will still be used here so she does not get arthritis in her knees from playing. But the moment these pictures were being taken my youngest Gavin was using them as rocks in the living room to jump from, and he could not touch the lava. I mean, it was for my son’s survival I left him as is in the perils of the lava monsters.

Caleb & Nora gave up on the game to play in the newly acquired play area, leaving their little brother to fend for himself.

I love the idea of having a play table for the kids in their room. This dollhouse can be taken down and Nora can build Lego’s on it, draw, play school, whatever. She has ample floor space as well which is so important for little kids to have. Having a table space I find really let’s them have options with playing as well. We limit tablet and TV time for our kids a lot, so most of their free time is spent entertaining each other and playing. Which is what Dale and I hoped to do, their rooms have been set up with their playing needs and organization in mind.

This Fab furniture flippin’ contest, turned into play table is done! If you are interested in taking part in one of the future challenges you can email info@fabfurnitureflippincontest.com to find out more information and see about creating something of your own. There will be participants linking up until February 26th for this February challenge, then the voting starts! I will be shouting it out on social media, handing out Vote for me buttons at lunch, making a speech over the intercom and formulating a smear campaign on the others. Kidding! But man those were the days with childhood class president campaigns. At my school it was a hot topic to promise soda machines and longer recess. Spoiler alert…. it never happened. The only thing I can promise is that every participant “brought it” with their furniture piece and I am ready to get some inspiration going!

Be sure to go over to City, suburb, sanity and Thirty eighth street to see all of the entries!

 

 

       

Here are more furniture redo projects –

Chair and desk, no sew

Ikea rast hack

Boy bedroom reveal

Furniture refresh, white bookshelf

Upcycle a bench, adding the details

13 furniture transformations