Pure Elegance…an upcycled sofa table

It’s time again for another fabulous furniture flip!  This month’s theme is Pure Colors, Original Elegance!  We had a wonderful selection of colors to choose from provided by this month’s sponsor of the Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest, the amazing Pure and Original Paint Company!  Pure and Original prides itself in using 100% natural pigments in their paints.  Their line includes Fresco Lime paint, Classico Chalk-based paint, Marrakech Walls paint, Traditional paint, Floor paint, Lime Wash, and Classico Facade.  Pure and Original provided me with 2 quarts of their Classico Chalk-based paint for me to use in my project.  I walked through my store, The Blue Building Antiques and Consignment, and spied several potential pieces for this challenge.  I decided to go with this Lane sofa/console table…soon to be an upcycled sofa table!  It had seen better days.  Why not transform her into a new contemporary yet elegant beauty??

It had some scrapes and scratches so I didn’t feel guilty about painting it.  I pictured straight lines and a sleek appearance.

My paint arrived quickly from Pure and Original.  I had selected Atria, a pale turquoise/bluish and Aged Paper, an off white.

Pure and Original is a European company and I wanted to go for an old European feel for this table.  I pictured rooms with tall ceilings and classic European colors.  You really need to check out their website and see the beautiful walls on display that were painted with this phenomenal paint.  Seriously, y’all, inspirational rooms!!!

Classico Chalk-based paint brushes on like silk…a wonderful consistency, super smooth. Because I was covering a darker (mahogany) color, I anticipated at least 2 coats of the paint.  Instructions indicated 2 coats would be necessary and they were correct.  There were a few spots where I had to touch up with a thin third coat but it covered nicely.  This is normal when covering darker surfaces with a lighter color.  I used the Atria to cover the entire table.  Here is the table after one coat.

I applied the second coat liberally.  I allowed the paint to dry overnight.  You get better coverage this way on the second coat.

There were some small decorative inserts at the corners of each of the legs.  You can see them in the photo above.  After painting the table, these were more noticeable.  I didn’t think these were very elegant.  They really pigeonholed the piece into a genre so I removed them and repainted these corners.  Next, I used Aged Paper to highlight the edges of the table.  I tried to use a steady hand but inevitably some of the paint strayed onto the     areas.  I used a damp rag to promptly removed the overage.  My intention was to paint the table in a solid manner with no distressing or sanding of edges at all.  After all, I was shooting for elegant, right?  If you know me at all, you know that I NEVER paint without distressing.  Well, as fate would have it this project took a little turn midstream.  As I wiped the Aged Paper overage from the Atria area, a tiny bit of the mahogany peeked through.

At this point, I must make a public statement…

Hello, my name is Suzanne and I am a paint distressing addict, an uber distresser if you will.  I simply and honestly CANNOT resist distressing furniture!  All it took was a tiny little peek thru of an itty bitty stretch of mahogany from beneath the paint.  Seriously, it was about the size and length of a small sewing needle.  But it was over!  I saw the wood beneath the paint.  Now the piece would have some distressing!  I justify my uber distressing fetish by arguing that this adds dimension and texture, which it does.

So, alas, the painted product is still elegant, just not so pure!

The original handles were gold.  I sprayed them with a dark dark gray to give some contrast to the piece.  The final step was to seal the table.  I had some flat sealer left over from another project to I used that.  It was perfect.  Note:  Pure and Original prides itself in it’s naturally pigmented paint and actually needs no sealer!  This is just a preference of mine, more like a habit.  I’ve been sealing pieces for so long that it will take me a while to drop this step.  I did not seal the frame so this is the first step!

To help accent the staging of this beautiful piece, I used my Pure and Original paint to give a new look to an old frame.  I was an all white frame…sorry, I didn’t get a before picture!  I hate when I fail to do this!  After all of these years, I am still soooo excited about commencing with the magnificent transformation that I often skip this step!  I measured the inside of the frame and cut a piece of backer board to fit.  I used spray chalkboard paint and inserted it into the frame.  Voila!

Since I have a store, I always have a blast playing around with accessories!  Mix ’em, match ’em,  switch ’em up.  These Pure and Original colors absolutely go with any decor!

If you follow me on the blog or on Facebook, you will recognize this lovely beauty “Paris” which I found at this years’s Market on Chapel Hill!

Isn’t she gorgeous in this vignette?  She really deserved her own photo!  Sigh…

And my favorite style of all…a little old world European!

Eureka!  So after seven years as a store owner, of playing with styles and different genres of furniture, of mixing and matching, of loving EVERY SINGLE item that comes into my store…I have found my style!  And I’ve had such fun with this upcycled sofa table!  See that last pic…that’s it!  Pure and Original…I’m ready to paint some rooms!  Hang on y’all…we goin’ for a ride!

Our gracious hosts for this month’s contest are Stacey from Anastasia Vintage and Carrie of Thirty Eighth Street.  Each of these gals has completed a project using Pure and Original paint as well.  Click on the links above to see each of these fabulous projects.

If you are a blogger who is in interested in participating in future contests, please send an email to info@fabfurnitureflippincontest.com.

Some or all of the hosts of The Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest receive monetary and/or product compensation from the sponsoring brand, Pure & Original, in order to complete their themed projects. Pure & Original will also provide the prize package for the contest winner.

Click on the link below to check out Pure & Original’s vast line of incredible paint products!

You can vote for your favorite project from this month’s Fab Furniture Flippin’ Contest by clicking here.  Scroll to the bottom to see all of the entries.  Just click on the red heart in the upper right corner of the picture of your favorite project!  I hope you will vote for me but all of the projects are phenomenal this month!  You can vote everyday!