I found this little gem in a ghetto Goodwill. I think that ghetto Goodwills have some of the best stuff at better prices than you would find on the nicer parts of town, but hey…thats just my opinion, and I’m willing to risk a little personal safety if the price is right, the sun is still out and I’m not wearing any offending colors.
The day I found this Heywood Wakefield Colonial end table, is the day I met karma face to face. This table was originally $35. The store clerk sold it to me for $8! Then as I drove off, giving the ghetto the perverbial “middle finger” in what I thought was a junking victory, my car shuddered and I realized after driving six miles that I had blown out my tire and I had two more miles to go before the next exit. As I drove in shame at 10 miles per hour with my hazards on, I regretted every moment of going to the ghetto with each blaring horn from the passer-byes. I finally made it to an empty target parking lot where I could get some help. I opened my hatch to find my spare tire, and realized it was in a space beneath the end table. This table was H-E-A-V-Y as small as it was, and the second I set it down to get to my tire, I heard the jingle of every knob on these drawers fall off and roll into the street.
To make a long story short, the cost of insurance sending out someone to fix my tire, plus the purchase of a new tire ended up costing me 30 times what I paid for the end table. Lesson learned: either check your tires before driving into a shady place, or avoid the ghetto all together…for a Heywood Wakefield I’d do it all again.
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I definitely wanted to give this piece some farmhouse character. Without much debate, I knew that the knobs had to be replaced and I wanted to use these round brass and white knobs that had been sitting in my storage for a while and they fit this piece perfectly!
I picked Fusion Mineral Paint’s “Coal Black” because this specific shade of black has a velvety dark depth to it. I don’t paint very many pieces black but I think the color of this one just leveled up the Modern Farmhouse look I was going for. After some distressing, I opted for General Finishes HTPC in Semi-Gloss. I know this piece would probably get a lot of use in a bedroom or common room so I wanted to make sure it had a durable top coat.
I thought this bicycle craft paper would top off this piece.
This piece turned out super cool. If I didn’t already have a million and one end tables I’d have kept this one for myself, but it turns out someone saw the beauty in this piece and took it home. Was it worth the trouble? Sure was!
Thanks for reading!
Did you just do 1 coat of the top coat?
Hi Melissa! I usually do 3 coats minimum of topcoat depending on usage. Because Fusion Mineral Paint is self-sealing, you can get away with two coats! Let me know if you have any other questions!
You have skills and a designer’s eye. Impressed. Wish you were in Virginia so I could hire you, would save me trying to figure out how to repaint my white birch VERY expensive 30 year old table in perfect condition.
I have no idea if I have to sand, it has a low lustre very hard topcoat. Fusion Minerals Top Coat, Ultra Grip, the paint itself, will it be low lustre, what do I need to do? Do I have to put all three of those and THEN wax if I want a rich patina. YOU know it all. I know little. Maybe I’ll move to Texas for my table’s sake.
Hi Again Dee! Lol your comments are awesome. And thank you for the compliment!
For furniture that you are planning to keep for yourself and for years to come, I HIGHLY recommend sanding first to wear down the previous finish and give it an even surface. Then clean it with soap and water and a sackcloth once dry. After that, you can choose to prime (my favorite is Zinsser BIN) to prevent bleed through of stains. If it’s natural wood, you shouldn’t have to worry. Paint, then I would also recommend you add a sealer, especially if this will be used as a surface for drinks, food, toys, etc. Fusion’s topcoat will work wonderfully paired with Fusion paint. I use General Finishes HPTC mostly because it can be sprayed through my sprayer!