This could get addictive

I found a new place to put a table runner the other day. They are very handy for moving around and making little displays on. The little white thing in the front is an oil burner that you put those wax melt things in, I bought a lemongrass and a honeydew one and they smell divine. I'm a bit slow with these things, I know they've been around for a while but til now I've been a 'put a few drops of scented oil in some water' oil burner kind of gal. So I'm starting to catch up now. The cupboard everythings displayed on is from a garage sale a while back and I don't think it will get painted as it's in really good condition and I'm a bit scared to change it. (this was a bit of a posh garage sale) But after painting the cabinet in the last post I thought the side table in the lounge room could do with a makeover. It's another tender center job (in case you don't know, a tender center is sort of like a second hand shop where people bring things in and you go and bid on what you might like and the highest bidder wins! It's mostly junk but sometimes there are little gems up for grabs). Anyway this little table is made from cane and a bit of chipboard and was looking a little worse for wear so a paint job was just the thing it needed.

I have learnt through trial and error that two decent coats of primer make a huge difference to the finished look of the paint and would highly recommend priming first when painting furniture. I used zinnser 3 in 1 primer (after a few people suggested it) and it is amazing! As long as the surface is clean and free of flaky bits you can paint it on just about anything. Can you imagine how much sanding this table would have required? Why bother when you can paint the primer straight on and get to work. So it got two nice coats of zinnser and then two coats of semi gloss and that was it.

So now we have a nice little side table that looks pretty and can stay around for a while. The inside of the drawer was looking a bit sad as it is made of some cheap chipboard/mdf stuff so I painted it as well and then glued some paper to the inside to spruce it up a bit. It's just scrapbooking paper and I used some spray adhesive to hold it down.

So there you go, another cheap and cheerful makeover. I wonder what will be next? Maybe I should go and do some sewing before the whole house gets painted!