DIY: Chevron Table

Let me start by saying I am not much of a crafter. I am not creative nor do I possess hardly any basic artistic skills -  so this table is my pride and joy. My very first DIY furniture project, and I am pretty darn proud of it! Figured I would share not my so perfect journey to get to this finished product with you guys.

I started with the table below, which I found for $20 at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I decided it would go in the lounge/bar (sunroom) in my new house and that I wanted to make it a little more fun to look at.

To start my project, I had to sand the tabletop down so the paint would hold better. So I sanded away. I've never done that kind of thing before so I had no clue hot to know when I sanded it enough as you will see in a bit. I sanded it and got it taped out, thanks to help and brainpower of my sweet man, David. I then went out to stain it, which was my original plan for the table. However, I did not read the instructions well enough and screwed up the whole staining thing. This resulted in my having to re-sand the entire table and start over. This actually turned out to be a bit of a blessing because I realized I had not sanded the table NEARLY enough the first go around.

The stain. It looks fine here, but because the table wasn't sanded well enough it didn't ever set right.

After I sanded off the stain, and re-taped the pattern.

After sanding for the 2nd time and spending a solid hour figuring out the best way to get this pattern taped out on the table, it was ready for paint! I decided to totally forgo the stain and just paint it 2 colors instead. I chose grey and navy.

Finished tabletop!

I let the table dry and top it was a paint sealer to help prevent chipping. Then I moved on to the legs. I decided on Behr "Yellow Gold" and think it really looks cute. I also decided to distress them a little to give the table a little more character, but you can't tell that much.

Waiting on legs to to dry to put it back together

Finished product

My new table :)

Though this table was frustrating at times, I really enjoyed working on it. Now that I have done one, I know it will make other projects a little easier because I definitely learned a lot throughout this project. I'll be blogging a house update very soon, I start moving this weekend :) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Starting Over

Happy July, y'all! I have not been on in a bit, but I am going to try and change that over the next couple of weeks. I recently got some news regarding my job for this coming school year, and I wanted to share it with my little blog family. I was told around Spring Break that there was a good chance my teaching position (k-2 resource) would be cut in this upcoming school year. I am thankful to have a principal that was so upfront with me from the beginning and keeping me as filled in as she could throughout all of the changes and budget cuts blazing through the teaching community. I had several options as to what I would potentially be teaching this 2012-2013 school year, and seeing that I am dually certified for regular ed or special ed - the options were almost overwhelming because they all were dependent on some other factor. So, since Spring Break, I have been on edge waiting to find out what I would be doing and I finally got my email... I am going to be teaching in a 1st grade general ed classroom this coming school year! I am so excited and cannot wait to get started (but not wishing these last 3 weeks of summer away too quickly :) ) it will be a completely new world, but I have a great team to help me through! If any of you know of any good 1st grade teacher blogs, please direct me that way. I will be on the hunt for lots of ideas over these next few weeks. I will be back again soon with some house updates next week. We are ALMOST finished with everything, yay! Have a great weekend!