re-purpose: our first end table

When Adam and I moved into our first apartment together, we had almost NO furniture of our own.  So his parents' apartment-warming present to us was a mission style end table and coffee table. 

Currently the coffee table is waaaaaay past the point-of-no-refinish!  When we were living in our last house, Adam sanded it down and used it as a work-bench in the garage.  But, we've kept the end table inside, moving it from room to room.  Using it as an end table, or a mini-desk for the kids' computer, or an xbox360 station, whatever we needed at the time.

Unfortunately, the end table has definitely seen better days!  So, in an effort to save money on new furniture that fits the look and style of our new home redesign, I've decided to re-purpose our old, battered end table, and give it a facelift!  Here's what it looked like before I set to work...


When Cody and Penny were puppies, THIS was their favorite chew toy, as you can see...


So, I sanded it down {by hand}, and started painting it white with some leftover paint.  And since this is not a simple end table, but a classic mission style...that means it has LOTS of surfaces, LOTS of nooks and SO MANY crannies!  It took a lot of paint brushing to get it to this point!  This is how it looks after a few coats of paint...


But, to make sure it has a nice, even, and shiny finish, I still need to paint on a couple coats of clear gloss on top of the white.  Which means, it'll be a couple more days, because I want to make sure the paint dries completely before the clear gloss coats go on.

XOXO,
Marcia