A Tale of Two Tables

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times and there were two tables that had only one thing in common - both were yard sale rescues.

No. 1 was a Waterfall-style nightstand from the 40's and table no. 2 had ornate, cabriole legs with two drawers and a "lovely" contact paper doily stuck to the top.  I guess in someone's decorating eye the beautiful legs and the doily complemented each other (or maybe it was to distract from the peeling veneer), so here's a better shot of the top of No. 2. 

Rescuing furniture is always an adventure as you never know what you're going to find and there's an element of, "What were they thinking?"

So, to rehab these beauties and get them ready for a new life, here are the details:

Table No. 1 was cleaned & sanded, then painted with HM chalk paint using BM's Galveston Gray and the drawer & bottom shelf were painted with HM chalk paint using Behr Fresh Pineapple.  It was lightly distressed and protected with black wax made by mixing APC black mica with APC clear wax.  The knob on the original hardware was painted with nickle and the Bakelite back piece on the knob was cleaned and retained. 

Done! and ready for a new home -

Table No. 2 was cleaned & the contact paper was removed from the top, as well as two layers of peeling veneer.  I was able to save the veneer on the two drawer fronts and retain the pretty pattern.  The table was painted with HM chalk paint using BM Twilight Zone.  The top & drawers were stained with Red Devil English Walnut (don't know if they still make this stuff - it was an old can I had hanging around and I liked the color).  Top & drawers were sealed with two coats of Wipe On Poly and the black has a protective coat of Fiddes Rugger Brown wax.  I kept the original hardware - cleaned, sanded, then painted with flat black.

 

Done! and ready to go...