chapter two

this is a(n extra extra long) story about how my table came to be.

this is the only picture i have that's sort of -ish of my kitchen table. it was an old, old, old table my aunt was keeping in her guest bedroom and was wanting to get rid of. my kitchen area is pretty small, and didn't allow for a big table, and this table was the PERFECT fit, so i snatched it up. it had an orange-y wood top and white legs. 

at first, i was like "duh, paint it black," as i've been saying with so many of my refurbished furniture projects lately (see couch side table, tv stand, etc etc.) but then i was like maybe i'll be more adventurous. or REALLY adventurous like my hero.

so i went to hobby lobby in search of bright teal or coral spray paint, and was met with a disappointing array of colors. my cousin and i finally decided on krylon's "blue ocean breeze."

we (but mostly i) spent two full days painting several pieces of furniture, some of which were mine and some of which were my aunts. it was stressful. in between projects, i kept sneaking side glances at the table, afraid of touching it for fear of ruining it.


finally, i buckled down and spray painted the whole top blue. then i went to work repainting the legs white because, like i said, really old table.


everyone loved the blue surface. it was a really striking color and i liked it a lot. but i kind of had my heart set on a striped surface, because, you know, i'm being adventurous and everything. plus everything i have is just one color, because i like things simple, but i think just another big block of color would have added to the already one-dimensional nature of my apartment.


are you bored yet?


anyway, once it was dry, i spent nearly an hour taping off the table in even stripes (i have ocd, and also like things to be perfect, and so the table was retaped at least 4 times) and then, against the better judgement of my aunt and three cousins, i sprayed the surface white.

i didn't take the tape off that night because i was so afraid of it looking bad and everyone giving me the i told you so glances that my family has perfected so well, so i let it dry over night.


probably a bad idea.


somehow, some of the white snuck its way under the tape, so my lines weren't even and clean. i almost cried, but i was still pretty high off spray paint fumes, so i just did what any insane person would do, and attacked the table with more tape, more spray paint, and a whole bunch of sand paper.


(random aside, did you know that goo-gone is a miracle worker and will get up any mess? it will also rub dried paint off your kitchen table if you use it to wipe off tape residue. awesome.)


i couldn't just quit while i was ahead, and so now my table looks like some poor weathered soul who has spent the last 50 years at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of cape cod.


but it kind of looks awesome.

my aunt said something about it looking like it's from martha stewart's oceanside villa. whatever that means, i guess?

i'm super glad they didn't have teal at hobby lobby, because that would probably be a little much in my kitchen. the blue is clean and crisp and i sigh a breath of sheer happiness when i stumble out to the kitchen to make my morning morning cup of tea and it's sitting there, smiling at me, saying "good morning michal. today will be a good day."








AND!!

i was right about the stripes.