Little Red Two-Toned Table

Caroline Sturman
Jul 6, 2016
2 min read

First of all, this was my first EVER distressed anything! And can I tell you it was a little unnerving to have worked so hard making sure the paint was just how I wanted it all to make it look slightly disheveled in the end. But alas! I overcame my fear and so can you!

Discovery Location? I found this beauty at the County Line Flea Market in Lynchburg, VA over the summer...not the best place to look for furniture. I saw one other piece with potential (and Yes, I snatched that up as well). Luckily, I brought the hubby along with me and he was able to bargain down the vendor from $10 to $8! Woohoo!

Inspiration? I get most of my inspiration from Pinterest and there was a picture of this cute accent table from Pottery Barn.

Pinterest (link)

1) Wipe Down, Sand, Wipe Down. I have to point out that there was a Cinderella sticker on the top...so with a heavy heart, I first removed that. Once I wiped all the gunk off the piece, I sanded any rough spots (and generally sanded over the whole piece, but you do NOT have to go overboard with the sanding) with 80-grit sandpaper on a sanding block. After sanding, I used a large brush to dust off all the sanding residue and also wiped down with a lightly damp cloth.

2) Paint with Colors 1 & 2! Everyone's favorite part...painting! Some of the shear joys of using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint...little to no sanding, no primer needed, and they have great color options! I chose to use AS Paris Grey as my undercoat and then AS Burgundy on top. One tip for painting that I heard from Annie Sloan herself (through a video tutorial..or her book...somewhere!) was to paint your furniture upside down (if able) to help you avoid missing any spots. Always listen to Annie! Although this paint dries super fast, I usually like to leave it sit overnight before applying another coat. This gives the paint tons of time to dry (again...way more than needed) and, more importantly, it prevents me from rushing the next coat.

In the first picture, the paint looks a little blotchy...this is just because it hadn't finished drying yet.

3) Clear Wax Before Distressing. I've heard arguments for both distressing before waxing or distressing after waxing. If it's your first time distressing, I'd recommend distressing after waxing...this technique is just a little more forgiving than the alternative...aka you're more likely to over-distress when you sand before waxing. I used 220-grit sandpaper to distress and used just the paper (no sanding block or electrical orbital sander).

4) Clear Wax and Dark Wax. After distressing, I applied another coat of clear wax over the distressed areas. Then, I went back over some areas with dark wax. Definitely take it easy with the dark wax when first using…just get used to it first and then apply more heavily if desired. Just like with clear wax though, you want to wipe off any excess with a clean lint-free rag. Then I just screwed on the new knob I got from Home Depot.