The Swirl Top Table

 Hello Readers. I found this little table or plant stand, at a church sale. It was so solid and sturdy, yet the finish was completely worn away on the top. I decided to use some paint and make something fun and playful with it.

Before and after.

This little table had a nice finish on the legs but the finish on the top was all worn off. I thought it would make a nice plant stand but the top needed to be sealed or finished again to protect it from water. 

The whole table was dusty and dirty. I washed it with Dawn dish detergent and a microfiber cloth. This worked really well. I wanted to clean it all over before I started painting. I also wanted to clean the top of dust and grime so I could paint it. Paint doesn't stick well to dust or grime.

I did not want to paint the legs so I had to cover them. I put the legs into a trash bag. This would keep the legs from getting paint on them.

I tied the top of the garbage bag tight at the top so it would stay on. This looks a little weird but it worked really well. 

I wanted to swirl blue and white paint together. I didn't want to mix them into a shade of light blue. I wanted both colors to be clearly visible. So...

 

I opened the bottles of paint and poured them both out at the same time. (*Note-I should have put a drop cloth under the table. I got paint on my drive way and had to wash and scrub my driveway after this. My neighbor saw me scrubbing the driveway with soap and a scrub brush and probably think I am crazy.)

 

I kept pouring the paints out slowly and moving the bottles around over the table. This got both paint colors all over the table top. I kept moving the bottles around until the table was covered and the paint was running down the edge to cover it all with the paint. Moving the bottles is what made the swirls on the table top.

 

The paint didn't run down over this edge. I tipped the table slightly to the side to force the paint over the edge. This made the paint colors mix and swirl around on the table top even more. The more I did, the more I liked it.

 

You can see the paint eventually ran down the sides of the bag like I thought it would. (You can also see the paint is getting on the ground. That was annoying to clean up. Use a drop cloth or newspapers to protect the surface you are working on.)

I let the blue and white paint dry for about a week. I wanted to make sure it was really dried and set well. I also wanted to protect the top so I added a coat of this clear spray. It just added an extra layer to guard my pretty swirls.

 

This little table is the perfect spot for this big spider plant. It needed a spot to get some sunlight and this table was a great height for this. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.