Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Old Oak Table

I often get asked how I get so much painting done. I am not a quick paint at all but I am a steady one. I paint almost every single day and fit work in when I can. Last night a friend called and it ended up being quite a long chat so while we were chatting I popped the phone under my chin and painted the inside of a cabinet. only one coat but it's one coat I don't have to do today. I also find I am much more productive when I have several pieces on the go at once. You save time by painting one piece when another is drying. Obvious I know, but it will explain how I am quite productive with my work. I think the biggest thing is, that I'm wildly passionate about painting furniture and never feel like I need a break. 


Some pieces however take a long time and I'm extra slow. This old oak table sat in my storage shed for months and then sat primed in my carport for another month.


I finally finished it last week. In the photo below it is primed and has one coat of ASCP Old White. I then gave it two more and two coats of wax. I primed the desk even though using chalk paint for two reasons. The first is I knew I wanted this table to be white so I always use two to three coats of primer when painting white for a good opaque coverage. The second reason is that old oak can bleed so I used Zinsser to help with that.



When it was half finished a customer saw it on facebook and bought it. I was trying to decide to distress or not, but my client made the decision to distress and I love it. The light distressing really brings out the features.







My customer is using the table as a desk in her study and it looks fabulous. Much neater than my desk which is always loaded with paper, tools and other stuff. 

Below is another page from my great grandmother's exercise book. I love having these.

I'm on the hunt for some more pieces to paint today, Wish me luck!

Fiona xx

2 comments:

  1. Fiona, I have to ask how you finish the top of such a table? I have one I cut down as it was too long for my lounge but I will be using it from time to time especially in Winter where the fire is in chilly Armidale, to put a sewing machine on. I dont want to wax it and wondered if I could use a polyacrylic finish to give it a tougher 'edge'?

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    1. hi Patricia, initially I was going to use Porters All Purpose Sealer on the table top as i thought perhaps it would be used as a dining table (my client was initially buying it for her mother) but then she decided to use it as her desk and find something else for her mum. So I chatted to her and we decided to wax it.
      have you read my blog post on waxes and top coats? (on my tutorial page)
      another paint you could use is dulux aqua enamel and not even worry about top coats
      hope that helps.
      Fiona x

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