Play Table

It pretty much goes without saying...but I love all things Pottery Barn!  They have the cutest things.  However, I'm often baffled by the price tag, especially on furniture (not to say I haven't bought furniture there, cause we have, most of our master bedroom is PB), but some of the prices I just can't bring myself to pay...

I loved this little table and chairs for A's "big boy room" at the new house.  But there was no way I was paying $169.00 for a kids' play table!  So...I improvised...

Here's the PB Kid's table, it really is darling...look at those little monkeys busy playing...

I found this jewel of a table at a garage sale down the street for $2.  I then found 2 chairs at Goodwill for $7 for both - done and done!

 I started by sanding the table to get the varnish off with medium (120 grit) sand paper.  

I then used wood filler to fill in any cracks; it had been sitting outside for a few weeks after I bought it, so the top wasn't in great shape. After the filler was dry (about 10 minutes) I sanded it again, wiped it down and it was ready for priming.  

Priming is KEY!  You'll save yourself several coats of colored paint if you just take the time to prime your piece.  The only time I don't prime is if I'm going to "shabby chic" it (meaning I'm going to sand off about half to paint to expose the wood underneath)...otherwise, ALWAYS PRIME.  I used Kilz on the table and Valspar on the chairs.  The Kilz covered better, but was lumpy in some places, so with the Valspar being 3/4 the price, I think I'll stick to that going forward (that's just my two cents, feel free to use whatever primer you want, I doubt it matters that much).  

 Make sure to let your 1st coat completely dry before adding your second coat.     The key to good spray paint is staying 8-10 inches away and doing thin coats.  You're better off to do 3-4 thin coats than 1-2 thick coats.  

If you get a place where your paint bubbles or runs, don't freak out...it's okay.  Often times these places will self-correct when drying.  If it doesn't simply sand it before you spray your next coat and you'll never notice it.  

I noticed some places I had missed with the wood filler after my first coat, so I filled it again, sanded again, and then primed again (I know it was a lot of agains).  After my second coat was dry, I sanded the top with fine (180 grit) sand paper to ensure it was extra smooth.  Especially since I had a lot of wood filler on it at this point.  I then primed again on top, but that was optional...it didn't really need it at that point.  

The chairs I didn't sand because they were already raw wood.  So I just primed 2 coats and then was ready to paint.  

I did however, tape my hardware so that it wouldn't get paint on it (this was optional, I decided I liked the hardware showing, but I could have painted it white if I didn't want it to show up quite as much).

After my priming was done and dry.  I painted.  I debated what color to paint... however, after discovering that  Valspar makes a white and black spray paint for $.99, it was a done deal, white it was (thanks for the tip Lowes guy).  Because the table had been primed 3 times, it covered much easier than the chairs (which had only been primed 2x).  I think I sprayed each piece two times (drying for about 15 minutes between coats).  

After they were all dry I applied the polyurethane.  I like to use Minwax "Wipe on Poly".  I goes on easily and protects pretty well.  I use a dry cloth the wipe it on.  Just make sure you wear gloves if you go this route.  You can also spray on polyurethane (like you would spray paint) or use a wax.  I choose to use the wipe on because I could get it a little thicker on the table top (since I figured it would probably take a beating from time to time).  

After the Poly dried (I left it in garage for 3 days to let if fully dry and to stop smelling)...I debated covering the top of the table in dry/erase board.  I thought it would be really fun to be able to write on the table when Little Buddy got a bit older...but at $30 for a small can, I decided against it.  I can always do that later.

Here is the finished product! It turned out pretty well!

Little Buddy was pleased and that's all that really matters!

Here were the total costs:

Table                                                   $2.00

Chairs                                                  $7.00

Sand Paper                                           $3.77

Kilz Primer (2 bottles)                         $10.88

Valspar Primer (2 bottles)                     $7.56

Valspar White Spray paint (4 bottles)   $3.70

TOTAL                                                $34.91

I would say that's not bad since it was $130 cheaper than the PBKids one! 

I'm still debating if I want to cover the chairs in a cute fabric to add a little pop of color...