Restoring an antique table with no stripping

I love my "new" French side table!

It started like this.  $30 at an estate sale, good lines, ruined finish, missing a few bits of trim, but sturdy.  The first thing I did was rough up the finish with a sanding block, taking off as much old varnish as I could, but not all of it.  

I thought I could touch up and restore the flowers, but it turned out they needed completely repainted.  The style was so pretty, I used that as a basis for my own painting, and tweaked the colors to suit my own taste, a little less purple and orange, a lot more pink and blue.

You can tell the varnish was still spotty, some came away when I sanded, but I didn't try to get it down to bare wood.

There are flowers on all three sides.

Next I painted the edges aqua with chalk paint from Hobby Lobby.  And added trailing viney-swirly gold, and painted the beaded trim the same gold.  I rubbed that gold paint over the raised carvings on the table legs with my finger tips.  

After that dried, I generously brushed on dark wax, and wiped it off with a soft towel. A chip brush is the best tool for getting down into the crevices of the trim and carving. I added more in places where the bare wood still showed, and made sure it got soaked in to those spots.  The photo above is with one coat of dark wax, it looked better after a second.

The finish isn't perfect, but perfect is over rated. I like things to look aged and worn. So, some spotty varnish is okay with me. I also didn't try to replace the few places where the beaded trim was missing, that sort of thing happens over time on vintage pieces.

If you are not a painter, you could still use this technique on old wood, without the flowers I added. It was all pretty quick and easy.

Comments

[Yvonne Welty]

What a stunning piece of furniture. Wish I had your talents!

[Gail]

Love it!

[Kim Budash]

That table turned out beautiful, is there anything that you cannot do, I love all that you do and get great joy out of following your blog. Keep up the great work as I think you are amazingly talented. Peace in your heart today and always!!

[bobbie]

You did an awesome job!! It is beautiful ~

[Holly Seymour]

I love the shape of this table! You restored it beautifully. Decoupage flowers would work for less talented artists.

[Karla Nathan]

Holly, that shape caught my eye right away, I was so pleased to see it at the estate sale!

[Karla Nathan]

Thanks, Bobbie, I used to paint furniture all the time, and I miss doing it.

[Gayla Pappenfoht]

That is beautiful! Your touches really made it sparkle but kept its vintage glory.