Hello my fellow Tuesdayers!  I am working on a super-important to do list item today and it is literally changing my life.  I never knew filling out a Bachelorette bracket would be so emotional 🙂

So while I work on that, I hope that you get a bit of fun info out of this post.  It’s all about painting our foyer table which is a metal base with a glass top.  Jeremy inherited it when his grandparents passed away and I LOVE it like it was gonna save my children from an apocalypse.

I had such a huge emotional attachment to it – more than even Jeremy I think – and I never even met his grandparents.  Not only was the table so cool and individual but it was a personal gift to Jeremy and everyone knows how I feel about gifts.  They are meant to be treasured and kept FOREVER.  That mentality can cause some storage issues but I’m working on it 🙂

I hesitated painting it after Jeremy told me the story of his Mama B painting it that particular shade of turquoise.  I personally adore the color and thought it was such a fun pop of saturation.  It was like emotional turmoil – just the thought of repainting it was upsetting because she picked the color.  It wasn’t until I saw some old videos of how stylish and refined she was that it just struck me….Mama B would want this table to look good in the space!  And being turquoise wasn’t working.

I found this old picture of when I was in the middle of decorating for Halloween and you can see that it sits right in the middle of our foyer and there is actually another table that is in the stair alcove area that is a different color.  I hope that I can build a custom piece for that area that has a curved back so that I can make this setup less awkward but for now, it works.

So the first thing I did was remove the glass top and tried not to kill myself or shatter it.  Then I sanded down the flat surfaces of the base with a 220 grit sandpaper.  I just needed a little grit for adhesion.  Now, you can use a metal formulated paint but I didn’t.  I just used a bit of leftover paint that is Sherwin Williams Amherst Gray – it is the same color I used on our sofa table.

I wanted the piece to look a little old and used….kinda like it had been taken straight from a factory and made into a table.  So to bring out the lettering and the details, I decided to use stain like a glaze and I crossed my fingers to see if it worked.

This could have failed miserably.  You see, stain is made of two basic parts – a solvent and a colorant.  When you apply it to furniture, the porous wood material can suck up some of that stain and you remove the excess.  The amount it ‘sucks up’ is depending on the time you allowed it to draw in and then also the capacity of the material to hold the stain.  So that’s why you don’t leave the stain on without removing the excess…it will sit suspended on the surface, become tacky and a big hot stain-y mess.  So that is why this was risky….metal, unlike wood, does not have the capacity to draw in stain.  It’s like an experiment….how much stain will adhere to a simple coat of paint?

I applied it to the surface with a foam brush and rubbed any excess away with the paper towel.

At first, I was sure it would be a big fat fail.  I mean….I knew that was a possibility and recoating with paint and then using a traditional paint-based glaze wasn’t a bad idea.

But then it started drying a little longer and the paint actually did absorb some of that pigment!

I can’t take all the credit for this beauty though….I had the world’s best assistant.

This kid is fire or ice baby.  All or nothing.  There is no gray in his world….except for this table that is 🙂

In the end, I am so glad we decided to paint the metal table and I am so glad that it actually worked!

The finish was just enough subtle contrast to make the letters draw attention and for the entire piece to look more industrial and more modern at the same time.

After painting it, I did a little research on the name – The Brunswick Balke Collender Co.  and apparently this company was started in 1845 made a variety of things but focused on pool tables.  This base would have been a pub table base.  Cool huh!?

Now people use all sorts of things as table bases but I like to think Mama B was ahead of her time – making this pub table base into the table she used for a bright and cheery breakfast nook 🙂

And now it serves as a foyer table – greeting all our guests with toddler fingerprints and sometimes a yogurt shmear 🙂

Yes, I cleaned those off before taking this photo…but trust me – this afternoon, they will be back 🙂

So what do you think?  Improvement?  I’d love to hear if you have any pieces in your life that you inherited or received from family that has a good story or that you hesitated to tweak!  I was so nervous but now looking back, I’m thinking WHY DIDN’T I DO THAT SOONER?!  It just feels like such a better piece of our home….kinda like it should have always been there!