Refinishing Fun

I picked up an old frame at the local antique gallery a few weeks ago for 15.00. It had been painted red, which doesn't match our living area, but it was just what I had been looking for. It's a simple frame but it has and understated elegance. You may not see it's potential in this picture but you will in the finished product.

I had also bought a beautiful table off of Craigslist. It was about 23" inches tall, too tall to be our coffee table. The shape and size was perfection though. Again, it was simple with an understated elegance. I find that those types of pieces mix well with mid-century items. The picture below shows the table in it's taller/pre-stripped state.

These projects have been calling to me, so today I spent my time stripping off layers of paint and old varnish. This is how the table looked after it had gone one round with paint stripper.

After much more scrapping, washing, and sanding the table finally looked like this.

Since we'll be using this as our coffee table, we had to cut the legs down to 17". That made the table 18.5" high including it's top. Here is a picture of the table with it's freshly shortened legs. Sorry about the picture quality. I couldn't find my camera and had to take pictures with my cell phone. The battery was so low that it wouldn't flash. Ahhh, just another day in my life. ;)

I'm not sure what color we'll finish it. I'm going to deal with it in it's natural state for a few days before I tackle the finish but look for it's makeover pictures to be posted soon. Meanwhile, I'll recoup from the chemical burns I suffered when the paint remover ate through my so-called chemical resistante gloves and flicked onto my legs and arms while using a brush to get the detailing.

Now... what about that old red frame? Well, it got a mini makeover. I took it down to the natural wood with just a little of the bottom layer of stain left, vaguely, on and that is how it will stay. I love the look of the wood. It's so organic and tactile in it's current state. I had a piece of glass cut for it but the print that I had planned to place in the frame turned out to be a huge disappointment. The print had been glued onto it's cardboard backing and it didn't detach cleanly. How sad is that? And to think that I hauled that print all the way from the beach. I am happy with how the frame turned out though.

-Little Note-

From now until Christmas each Friday will be Fabulous, Fantastic, and Frugal Friday. Every Friday I will feature a gift that I think possesses all those attributes.