Revival of a Mersman Table

Good afternoon!

How is everyone doing on this wonderfully wintery day? Still a bit brisk outside in good ole Wisconsin! So it's wonderful weather to stay inside and work on a project!

I have been having difficulty finding time to work on projects lately. I work full-time, and am a full-time student as well. If we add in the kids and hubby, my time is very limited lately. So this weekend, I took advantage of the kids being gone and finished up one of my projects.  

I was fortunate to have a friend give me a lead on a beautiful Mersman side table. (Thanks Gwennie!!)I picked it up for a steal and couldn't wait to get started on it!

Although the table was in excellent structural condition, it does have nicks & bumps. I love the details on the legs and the front drawer! I knew this was the perfect piece to distress to highlight those features!

Remember, I have just started using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP). I have read many tutorials, and watched even more YouTube videos (did you know that you can watch YouTube videos on AppleTV?! - oh the hubby just LOVES to watch them for hours with me! haha!). Even armed with all of my internet knowledge, every project is always a learning experience. This project definitely taught me a few things! 

I had cleaned up the top of it by standing and some light stripping on the side edge. 

Here is what clean up I did:

See, it was nice and clean. I was so excited to start painting!!

So I started brushing on my ASCP in color Pure White. Everything was going so well...and then this happened. 

This is called bleed. From what I read, this can happen from tannins or even water stains. It happens because the paint does not have a built in stain inhibitor. 
But have no fear - there is a solution! Even if you have already started painting, even if you have a full coat on, or if you don't - this can still be fixed without having to strip or sand. What you need to do is seal the entire piece. This can be done with shellac. 

I looked at different shellac's but many things I read said if you use the aerosol spray type, to make sure you are well ventilated. During the winter months I am in my basement, and it does not have the best ventilation system, so I went with the brush on. 

I used the Zinsser Clear shellac. It says clear, but does have a very slight yellow tint. I coated the entire piece in this. Every last inch. 

I let the shellac dry for almost 24 hours and then was able to coat the entire piece 

with my first coat now.

As you can see, it's very transparent as this point. 

I then applied a second coat. 

I am very impatient with waiting for paint to dry - ASCP does dry rather quickly. 

After it completely dried I applied one coat of clear wax. 

I have seen tutorials that say to distress before waxing, and others say to wax first. I tried it both ways, and I prefer to distress after a light coat of clear wax. It seems to be much more forgiving and there is less paint dust.

As you can see it was completely white - a little to blah for me. So I started distressing. I used a fine grit sanding block and also a 3M Flexible sanding sponge - it worked to get into all the different crevices.

The top was a little bland so I decided to use a stencil that I had picked up for the exact reason. 

I used a different chalk paint for the stencil. It is Americana Decor brand, color Primitive. It's a wonderful and very versatile color!
I then applied another coat of clear wax to seal the entire piece. I followed this up by buffing with a lint-free rag. The more you buff the shinier it will be, so I just did a light buffing.

I used the original hardware and spruced it up with some Oil Rubbed Bronze paint. They were nice and dark to contrast against the white color and matched well with the distressing. 

I love how it turned out! I wish I had a place for this in my own home, but I don't. We were thinking of putting it in Chloe's room, but it doesn't really fit with her "style".  

 

This was an amazing transformation:

This project shows you just how an old outdated piece can be brought back to life. 

I was so happy to see this project turn out even better than expected! I can't wait to do more! 

I am still in progress working on that coffee table I found at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore - and am almost done with it! I can't wait for the big reveal on next week's blog. 

I hope that you enjoyed this project and it inspires you to see the potential in decor items or furniture you may see at a rummage or estate sale! 

Happy Crafting!

Second Chances Design
Sarah