Friday, March 23, 2012

Simple French Side Table

This is a story about a Simple French Side Table. Here is the table I received from a friend. Mrs. Smith and I bought a few pieces from her, but this was one of those - "You can have that, or it will go in the dumpster."


Well, this is the latest picture I could find before painted. You see, I had to add quite a bit of wood filler to the plywood top as the layers had begun peeling and chipping away from each other.

As I have begun painting with CeCe Caldwell's paint, I have been trying out some different styles with the many colors I have to work with - examples for customers to The Smith Hotel. While in Seattle with Mrs. Smith, we stopped in a few shops that lent me some inspiration. One place we happened upon (actually Mrs. Smith sought it out) was Watson Kennedy. We actually got to meet Ted. He had some great pieces in the First & Spring Store. Another store we visited was Salt & Sea Vintage Home on Bainbridge Island. So from these two stores, I decide I needed a two tone piece that looked old and weathered. I didn't want to try it on a large piece since I wasn't sure how it would turn out - so why not a free small table - a simple table.

I chose a Seattle Mist and Alaskan Tundra Green. I felt they would go on light and I could do some distressing and throw some glaze into my wax to make it look older. But I did want to also keep the table simple, something you might find in a cottage on the outskirts of Paris.


So here it is after the paint - a mere 30 minutes to get both colors on. Wow - CeCe Caldwell's paint is very easy to apply and clean up is simple as well (rinse the brush with warm water). In trying some different things with a new paint, I have sanded prior to waxing and sanded after waxing. I have found both to be fairly easy with this paint and wax. Either way, I have found that sanding polishes the paint slightly, but gives it a great look wherever the brush stokes have remained. One thing that I will say is that if you sand after waxing, the sand paper gums up pretty quickly. Sanding prior to wax renders more "dust", but I can use the same piece of sandpaper on the whole piece of furniture. I am all about cheap - so I sanded this one prior to waxing.

Did I mention the CeCe Caldwell's wax smells like honey? Maybe some tea with those crumpets?

After waxing, I used some Valspar Antiquing Glaze on the wax before it cured. I spread it out as thin as possible - trying to get an aged look, but not too dark. Here is what we came out with.


I added a simple brass ball pull for the hardware. There is no drawer, but the pull adds a little something that finishes the piece. Here are some other shots (thank you sun for coming out for one day).





So there you have it. Please tell me what you think - do you like the look? Is it simple? Would you put it in your French countryside cottage?

Until next time....

Mr. Smith

Linking to:
Primitive and Proper
Domestically Speaking

16 comments:

  1. I love the simple lines. The colors you choose complimented the piece beautifully. Love this. It won't last long.

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    1. Thanks - you are up late like me - working on the next project I assume? My next project is a buffet in Destin Gulf Green - almost done.

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  2. amazing what some good elbow grease does! :)

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    1. Thanks Esther - fun quick one - and I did this one mostly indoors one evening while watching a movie with Mrs. Smith

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  3. Beautiful as always. I wish we had smell-a-blog so we could smell that honey.
    tammy

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    1. Yes - smell-a-blog is the next big social media thing I hear. Our house now smells like cinnamon rolls as Mrs. Smith baked her famous 3-pan recipe. Of course the recipe was passed along by a friend of ours at church.

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  4. Love the contrast! The addition of the pull really makes it. Good one!

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    1. Simple pull looked the best. Tried a couple different styles and the one that was on it was more for a downtown Parisian Hotel.

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  5. This is a great color combination, the glazing really brought the table to life :)

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    1. Thank you Vicky - the first time I have used a glaze in the wax - so simple, but great outcome.

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  6. ooh gorgeous and springy! i love the colors!

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    1. Thanks again Cassie - these two colors are so European - cool redo for some plywood table that was falling apart.

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  7. Those colors are great. I'll have to try the glaze in the wax idea.

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  8. it was pretty cool, just use a clean cotton rag, apply some glaze after it is waxed and the wax is still fresh, and rub in as much or as little as you like.

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