I found a drop-leaf table that fitted in the space beside the chimney breast in my lounge and also opened large enough to serve as a dining table occasionally for up to 6 people and more typically serve as a general work surface for making stuff with the kids..
Here's what it looked like when i got it from Gumtree...
And i got the idea of painting it bright lime green or like a zebra. I looked online for zebra ideas and found this picture which i took as inspiration...
From reading the blog that i found it on, the recommendation was to use chalk-paint for furniture and then wax it with furniture wax.
The chalk paint was really nice to put on, but i struggled to get a smooth finish with it. I lost count of the times i sanded it down with the mouse sander. It even got to the point i sanded right thru to the original varnish -- oops!
The wax however was rubbish. Waste of money as it didn't buff to much of a shine at all.
I tried again with a satin varnish and the finish was just right.
On my first attempt at zebra stripes I overdid the hair flicks and the black stripes kinda looked like hairy spider legs - especially from up close and so i had to start over again!!
Second attempt at stripes I was happy with. However, I was still getting the textured finish from the roller or brush and they didn't disappear easily with sanding. (Sanding chalk paint creates a HUGE amount of fine dust - think dropping a bag of flour on the table and blowing it about with a sanding machine! Not an indoor job.)
Here's the final finished table... the 'distressed' look doesn't look that great in this picture but once the plywood was away and the room tidied up it all looked nice. --It was caused by me attempting to sand the chalk finish totally smooth and i just wasn't prepared to spend any more effort on the thing by painting the stripes again - and sanding them smooth again!!!
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