This is one of the two tables I’ve been wanting to refinish that are currently listed over there in the sidebar. I got this little guy off of Craigslist when we first bought our San Diego house and it has been patiently waiting for some attention ever since. Since it’s life began probably at least 50 years ago it’s been covered in some unforgiving paint and it has been scarred up almost beyond recognition. The last person who tried to resuscitate it took off the custom drawer pull and replaced it with these odd little plastic pieces that made the table look like it was constantly in shock. It needed a refresher.

I spent a few days trying to get all that black paint off. The wood underneath is still really good, but the poor table has been abused beyond my ability to repair. After a few tries with the stripping gel it became clear that it was either sand the table down until there was just a whisper of veneer left, or commit to repainting.

I spray painted this table with the same primer I used for the bathroom stand.

I went back for more trusty spray paint. I just love how the surface finishes. Instead of that overpowering black that was on the table before, I went with a dark gray with metallic flecks in it. I wouldn’t call it glittery, but it does have just a bit of shimmer. It really changes the look of this utilitarian dresser into something a little bit special.

For greater longevity, I finished it off with a couple of coats of a clear sealer.

Unfortunately, the holes in the drawer were not drilled at a standard length apart, so I was limited in my hardware options. I did not want to go for something round again, I was trying to get away from the face effect of having two dots above that big open mouth. Home Depot had these little glass knobs, and I think that the hexagon shape is as good as I’m going to get.

In the action photos I’m afraid that the table doesn’t look that much different. Especially nestled up to my poor destroyed arm chair. But living with it I can tell you how much neater and fresher the whole thing looks. It was absolutely worth the effort.

I had planned on putting a lot of energy into decorating our bedroom this year, but the move completely upended those plans. Not only because of how it occupied my time and energy, but also for how it sucked up our money. I can’t build the bedframe I plan on until I get the right size mattress, which of course costs a whole lot more money than what I have lying around. So since I couldn’t do the full bedroom makeover from start to finish, I’ve had to content myself with one step at a time – painting the walls the right color (unlike the last house), a lucky Craigslist find, reorganizing the trinkets in the house to bring some in here, buying one piece of artwork at a time, and making over some cheap lamps.

I really love a masculine design, so I wanted our bedroom to have a lot of that influence. Dark colors, minimal decor, and traditionally masculine fabrics, like suiting.

Finding the fabric was the hard part. Once I found a suiting material that showed up against the black wall, then I just had to make a bias tape. I cut the fabric to the dimensions called for by my bias tape maker – 1″ of fabric to make 1/2″ bias tape, and sewed the edges together to make one long piece. Then I fed it through the bias tape maker and ironed it.

I ripped off the fabric that edged the lampshade, and then hotglued my bias tape in it’s place, folding the edges over where they met to keep things neat.

It’s such a simple change that I debated even blogging about it, but I think it adds a whole lot to the look. What used to be a bargain basement lamp from a big box store is now custom and a perfect fit for my masculine inspired bedroom.