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I lived with it a few weeks and found it to be great for housing my stash of Ghirardelli peppermint chocolate candies. However, the color scheme was really not fitting into my kitchen – I have absolutely no green in my decor and I just wasn’t feeling that blue railing with the burgundy door and green siding.

So I decided to paint it. For some reason I was a little hesitant for fear of “ruining it,” but I figured I had nothing to lose as I wasn’t fully enjoying it “as is.”

Being torn between blue and white, I decided on a very pale blue – “Little Whale” by Fusion Mineral Paint. It reminds me of snow at dusk – white with just a hint of dusty blue.

It took 4 very light coats to cover. Here’s how it looked after the first coat – not great!

Don’t worry about the first coat – or even the second or third – when you’re using Fusion on a ceramic piece. The first coat(s) are really just to adhere to the surface and get a foundation for subsequent layers. If you end up with some uneven spots, wait until it’s dry and lightly sand between coats.

Voile!

Since I already had the paint, the whole thing only cost me $3. It’s amazing what a little paint can do! If you’re not loving an item, don’t be afraid to try a little paint on it. It fits so much better with my decor now:

Unfortunately all my peppermint chocolates are gone…I guess I’ll have to get more of those…

Blessings,
Melissa

This post contains affiliate links for which I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. Please click here for more details. I truly appreciate your support!

I loved our house, but every time I drove up all I could think was, “It would look SO much better if those shutters were…” fill in the blank.

Major projects like kitchens and bathrooms came and went, babies were born, life kept chugging along and we never painted those silly shutters.

I finally had my mind set – it was going to be black or gray. Those were classic. Those were safe. Except…

…every time I took the kids on a walk, I passed this one house a few blocks from ours. The shutters and front door were a cheerful blue, and I began to notice that I smiled every time I walked past.

And then it clicked – that’s what I wanted – not something safe…

I wanted something that would make me smile every time I drove up to our house.

Blue is certainly still a classic color – just look at many English cottages! I was sold.

You might know by now that I love Fusion Mineral Paint. It is awesome stuff; I’ve used it a bazillion times around our house and have been nothing short of impressed.

But could I use it on vinyl shutters?!

People use it on their front doors all the time – even on a bicycle, as I saw recently! Why not shutters?

Just a note – our roof has a really generous overhang around the perimeter – the windows never actually get a lot of direct rain or snow. This made me even less concerned about durability. I’m confident, though, that even if you don’t have a deep overhang, it would still hold up well.

I’ve used Fusion Mineral on our dining table, black bench, the twice-painted table, and a number of other projects. I’ve scrubbed pasta sauce off that dining table countless times over the last year and it’s held up like a champ. Toys have been scooted across that bench over and over again for well over a year and it has yet to flinch. And that’s without any sort of topcoat. It’s incredible stuff.

To prep, we removed the shutters from the house and gave them a good cleaning with plain old dish soap and water.

We let them dry and power washed the siding while we were at it.

Then I gave them two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Liberty Blue.

What a difference even after just one coat! (Still wet in photo.)

Don’t freak out if the paint looks a little like camouflage while it’s drying – it will even out! When I first saw the shutter look like this…

…it was a total “oh no!” moment – but trust me, it doesn’t look splotchy now in the slightest. Fusion Mineral Paint is also self-leveling! Woohoo!

You know what impresses me even more than how well 2 coats covered? It didn’t take away the texture of the shutters! They still have that faux-wood grain visible! Just make sure you don’t get gloopy with the paint – use a light hand and try not to go back over what you just painted, because it’s already starting to dry.

My husband purchased new shutter pins and I painted those too. He rigged up this block of wood with holes to stick the pins in so I could easily paint them. (Make sure you check your pin size before purchasing! They come in different sizes.)

After doing this, I would actually recommend painting the pins after the shutters have been re-hung. As he was hammering the pins in, the paint chipped in a few places, resulting in touch-up work. It’s totally up to you – the block was super convenient, so if you don’t mind touch-up work, then you could do it that way.

It is amazing how much paint can make a difference!

(Okay, well, some landscaping too…)

This would have been a 2-day project except that I ran out of paint. We started first thing in the morning, washed and painted the shutters, then let them dry overnight and put them back up the next day. As it so happened, my paint took most of a week to come in, so my neighbors had to look at a half-done house. (Sorry, neighbors!)

It took 1.5 containers of paint (500ml each) to put 2 coats of paint on 10 shutters – 6 long shutters and 4 short shutters.

I am totally in love with the blue.

It’s taken me a few weeks to get to writing this post, and so far the paint hasn’t had any problems. Even the finished shutters that got left out in the rain before we re-hung them were just fine. I will keep you updated as the seasons go by as to how they hold up, but I feel really confident that they will be A-okay!

Guess what – I smile when I drive up to the house now!

Have you ever had a piece of furniture or decor that had special meaning – perhaps a family heirloom or an item given to you by a loved one – but it just didn’t work in your space?

That was our coffee table situation.

My husband’s grandfather was a skilled and proficient furniture builder. He built not only this coffee table, but many pieces we use in our house – my husband’s desk, dresser, nightstand, a cabinet in our bedroom, and a shelf in my daughter’s room. Many other pieces reside in family members’ homes; among them are a dining hutch, various cabinets, and side tables. I am seriously amazed at how much furniture he was able to make!

I liked our coffee table – it had an interesting shape, a useful little drawer for holding coasters, and most of all the rich family history. Of course, my little boy beat the snot out of it as a toddler (what, coffee tables don’t have snot?), but I think great-grandpa would have appreciated that his table was being enjoyed by future generations.

[This was the only decent photo I could find with the old coffee table in it!]

That being said, I couldn’t get past the fact that it looked dwarfed in our living room. It simply looked lost between the couch and chair, atop a large rug. Also due to its small size, it was easily moved around by a certain little boy who nearly tipped it over a few times (thankfully baby wasn’t in the way!). A larger coffee table would also provide room for both decorations and beverages.

Thankfully, my husband was on board with the idea. I felt really guilty asking him if we could please NOT use his grandfather’s table, but being the sensible man he is, he let me have my way. Haha, just kidding – he agreed it was too small for the space.

It took several months of scouring Facebook Marketplace before I found the right fit. When I saw this Ethan Allen table, I was drawn to the slatted boards, elegant detailing, and the fact that it has a shelf.

It had definite potential, but was in pretty rough shape! (I guess my husband didn’t photograph the part of the tabletop with red marker or ink all over it…bummer!)

We went the used route because kids are rough. on. furniture. No matter how much you teach them to be gentle and respectful of belongings, they’re children and stuff happens. So we didn’t really want to invest in something brand new.

Besides, it’s fun to transform a piece…at least I think so.

“Okay, Melissa, quit rambling and show us the pics!“

*Ahem, yes, of course*

My husband is in charge of all sanding and staining endeavors in our house. He has experience and I’m happy not to mess with it. I paint stuff.

He removed the top, sanded it down, and actually had to give it a new edge with his router. I mean, look how rough the edges of this table were!

He then stained it with Minwax Jacobean and sealed it with polyurethane.

I painted the bottom with Rustoleum Chalked in Linen White – same as my church pew. It took 3 coats to sufficiently cover.

I even had a sweet helper

In case you’re wondering, this was what it looked like after one coat. He helped paint the second coat, and I painted the third coat by myself later on. I like to let my little guy help whenever I can – it’s good mommy-son bonding time while baby girl is sleeping, it teaches him a skill, and it’s a fun activity. He actually does a really good job!

Voila!

(For the record, anything breakable or tearable that you see in this photo is not usually there!)

We’re so happy with how it turned out AND no one has successfully moved it yet.

Have you ever watched “A Charlie Brown Christmas?” Well, if you are familiar with it, you know that part when all the kids are making fun of that twig of a tree and Charlie Brown tells them all that he doesn’t care…that it will be perfect…and besides, that little tree needs him? That, my friends, is how I felt about this antique church pew.

This church pew, which I purchased several weeks ago at Vintage Market Days of St. Louis, is a bit quirky – I’ll get to that in a minute – and wasn’t in great shape, but it had potential and I wanted to turn it into something both beautiful and functional. I’m so excited to finally be able to share with you all!

For quite a while I had been searching for a church pew to put in the bay window of our kitchen. It seemed like everything I would find was either the wrong size, the wrong style, or too expensive. We had thought about a built-in window seat, but decided it against it for several reasons:

1. The room is already a bit small and a solid seating area might make it feel even tighter.
2. My husband wanted to be able to see the hardwood floor he laid (I don’t blame him), so we didn’t want to cover it up.
3. There is an air vent right under the window which we would have to re-route if we did built-ins. It could be done, but would definitely make it more complicated.

And…I like vintage church pews. Kind of fits with the Hymns & Home theme, am I right?

So… it’s quirky! Here’s why: at some point along the way, one side of it was replaced, so the two ends are not the same! The two ends have different curves, differently sized knobs, and one side is plain while the other has a decorative panel.

Does this bother me? Not in the slightest!

When my husband was initially listing all the work this pew was going to need and basically telling me that this thing was a mess, I told him it has character! His reply? “That’s a LOT of character…more like emotional baggage!” Haha. We laughed.

So exactly how much work needed to be done? Well…

• There was a big gap between the front board and the seat where they were not meeting up (the seat was not being supported well on that end!).
• The front board was broken on one end.
• The original side was pulling away from the main body of the pew.

• There were nails sticking out in places.
• The person who attached the new side whacked it into place with a hammer, leaving hammer dings all over the end of the pew. Doh!

• Oh, and the replacement end must have been the wrong height, because someone did some serious retrofitting to attach it!

It was pretty rough, it bowed in the middle when you sat on it, and was a dingy brown color. Even more than making it look pretty, making it safe for our little kids to sit on was our priority.

My handy hero hubby fixed all of those things – filled all the holes and dings, removed and replaced the dangerous nails, reattached the ends, got the seat aligned properly and filled the gap with a new piece of wood. What a guy! Thank you so much, my dear!

I gave the pew 3 coats of Rustoleum Chalked Paint in “Linen White.” This is the second time I’ve used the Rustoleum Chalked line, and I’ve been pleased both times! It’s a very affordable but nice paint. Not as many color options as some other lines, but if they have a color you like, give it a try!

My son (age 2.5) helped paint the back of the pew. It was so much fun – while baby girl was napping, he and I listened to Christmas music down in my husband’s workshop and painted together. He stood on a wooden box, wearing one of my old t-shirts as a smock…it was precious. I just had to remind him a few times to paint the pew and not daddy’s table! Oops.

Now it’s all decked out for Christmas! My son loves sitting on it while eating his afternoon snack, and I can envision my kids hanging out there to read books or do homework in the future, visiting with me as I cook dinner.

Have you ever saved a piece that “needed” you? I’d love to hear about it!

One of my son’s favorite books right now is “The Little Engine That Could.” Having read this story a number of times (okay, a lot), it was the first thing that popped into my head when trying to figure out how to describe the transformation of this dining set.

You see, this is actually the dining set my husband’s family used as he was growing up. It dates from the mid 80’s and has (as far as I know) been used every. single. day. since then. It’s worked hard, put in its time, been well loved and well worn, and was pretty much at the end of its life.

And that’s when we got it.

When my husband and I first got married and bought our house, we had no dining table. We were using the little 2-person Ikea table that had been in my husband’s apartment. While that was okay [temporarily] for us, we had nothing large enough for when friends and family came over. Conveniently, my in-laws decided it was time for them to get a new set and offered this one to us.

Hey, you can’t beat free, right? And having a table is better than no table…

And so we used it for several years…

…until I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore. We had finally renovated our kitchen and I was finally beginning to decorate (yay!), and that orange 80’s table with the busted out cane chairs just looked so sad.

(Please excuse my messy basement!)

Now don’t get me wrong – I was very grateful to have a table and extra grateful we didn’t even have to pay anything for it – but as you can probably imagine, it didn’t really fit with my “vision” for the room.

I brought up the subject of getting a new table and chairs – even an inexpensive set – that would fit with our decor. My husband was not keen on the idea, since we have very young children and the table will probably see a lot of messes, projects, and “love” [read: abuse] over the next few years. He wasn’t ready to buy our “forever” table only to have it torn up, and he didn’t want to waste money on “something cheap.” I saw his point, and mostly agreed, but was still majorly disappointed. I was so sick of looking at the broken chairs and orangey finish!

Since we weren’t going to replace the set, I was at least going to spruce up this one!

All that said, this is probably not our “forever table.”

(I’m not even sure exactly what our “forever table” will look like, but probably something rectangular and rustic…)

However… I am pretty pleased with the transformation that has taken place! That orangey 80’s dining table with the busted-out cane chairs has come a long way, and for not a whole lot of money! I managed to learn some new skills in the process, plus we have the satisfaction of having done it ourselves! Win!

Well, let me disclose to you that the whole process took months, because…life happened. Just the daily life stuff with little kids + only working on upholstering and painting during nap time, etc. The chairs alone took me *cough* 5 months to complete.

Two of the four backs on the chairs were broken. I could have ripped out the cane and just upholstered them, but I was afraid that with such long backs the chairs would begin to look “heavy.” I like the airiness that comes with a caned back. So I rolled up my sleeves and learned how to cane!

I’m not going to give you a tutorial on caning because I am not a pro in the slightest. I followed this tutorial on youtube, and it was SO helpful. If you ever want to give caning a try – which I recommend because you totally CAN do it – use that tutorial (and feel free to ask me questions).

After I roughed up the shiny finish on all the chairs and re-caned the 2 broken ones, I glued on these wood flower appliqués with some wood glue. (The photo below is of one of the chairs that wasn’t broken, that’s why the cane looks darker.)

I then gave them all two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Lamp White. You can paint cane with a brush, but you have to go super light with it and make absolutely sure that you don’t have drips coming out the other side! Working in a circular motion helps. To add depth to the flower appliqué, I brushed on some watered-down Martha Stewart Vintage Decor Paint in Charcoal. I wiped off the excess and touched up bad spots with white.

Whenever I got a spare moment, or while I was waiting for a coat of paint to dry, I stripped the old upholstery off the seats, and then worked on reupholstering them with this gray and white buffalo check fabric. It is super sturdy and I have no doubt that it will hold up with daily use. I plan to write up a chair-reupholstering tutorial in the coming weeks.

(The way I’m writing this would give the impression that this all went very quickly, but it definitely took several months!)

Dining chairs get knocked around all the time, so to add extra durability, I sprayed the chair frames with a coat of Rustoleum Satin Clear Enamel (before I reattached the seats, of course!). As an aside, I know that Fusion Mineral makes a “tough coat,” but since it seemed to yield mixed reviews, I decided to skip it. The Rustoleum clear enamel did not yellow the white paint at all, but this may vary depending on what type of wood you are dealing with. Always test in an inconspicuous spot first!

Also before I reattached the seats, I gave all the new upholstery two coats of Scotchgard Fabric & Upholstery Protector, because life happens! Always test this sort of spray first to make sure it’s not going to mess up all your hard work! I tested it on some leftover scraps of fabric before spraying my precious seats!

Over the course of the 5 months it took me to redo the chairs, we continued using the table and sat on our old Ikea chairs. Then we switched and started using the new chairs at the little Ikea table! It was really quite comical.

The table got dragged down to the basement where it underwent many experiments and tests (bwa ha ha!). No, really, it did.

The top is a veneer and it seemed like no matter what we did, we could not get it dark enough. We thought we had it finished at one point, but after using two coats of stain it was all uneven and splotchy, so my husband ended up resanding the whole thing and we tried again. It never did get as dark as we wanted, but we finally said “good enough!” It received one coat of Minwax Gel Stain in Coffee, followed by a coat of polyurethane.

I then painted the legs and the apron of the table with two coats of the Fusion Mineral Lamp White. Hubby rigged up a system so I could paint all sides of the legs at once. He’s a keeper. The legs got two coats of the Rustoleum clear enamel before being reattached to the tabletop. We decided not to worry about top-coating the apron. You cannot tell any difference just by looking.

And it is finally DONE DONE DONE! Woohoo!

I don’t have an exact total for this project, but it ended up being somewhere in the $150 – $175 range to completely revamp this table and chairs. The most expensive part was the fabric – heavy duty upholstery fabric isn’t cheap! But you want it to hold up, so it’s worth the investment.

Glad we could breathe some life back into this little dining set that was on its way out the door. It’s cool that it has so many special memories for my husband and now it gets to add a whole new chapter in its story with our kids! That may be worth even more than having a brand-spanking-new table.

Shh…can you hear it?

“I thought I could…I thought I could…I thought I could…“

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I am SO excited to finally get to share this with you all today! I can’t believe it finally happened!

So, back in June, I bought this little cherry bench off Facebook Marketplace, or rather, my Father-in-Law picked it up for me and my in-laws ended up making it my birthday present (thank you both!).

It sat in the garage for a long while, because…

…once I got the layers of dust off it and my husband saw how pretty the wood was, he didn’t want to let me paint it! This was actually like a full-blown marital disagreement! I will admit that I wasn’t expecting it to be in such excellent shape, and I had no idea from the listing that it was solid cherry. Based on the photo and the price, I was expecting a rough old bench!

I was actually experiencing some major “wood guilt” about painting it as well. However, it was much too red for my taste and it completely clashed with our floors and everything around it! What good was that?

My line of thinking is this:

Something can be the nicest piece in the world, but if it doesn’t meet your needs and fit your tastes, it doesn’t do you much good!

Now obviously I could have just painted it in spite of my husband’s protests and been done with it, but for the sake of marital harmony, and because I too was having doubts, I decided to sit on it (haha, get it?) for a while and be sure it’s what I wanted to do – and give hubby time to come around to the idea. And he did.

Sidenote: The listing photo was very cleverly taken to hide the fact that the bench’s legs were completely crooked! It wasn’t mentioned in the description or anything. I had no idea that the bench was going to need repair until my Father-in-Law brought it to my house. (He was not aware that I didn’t already know about the legs being crooked.) Thankfully, my husband is handy and was able to pry the legs off and re-glue them all, but man was I annoyed! Please please please, if you’re selling something online, don’t be deceptive like that!

I mean, look at how crooked it was (please ignore the poor photo quality):

And the bummer about FB Marketplace is that once the seller takes down the item, you can’t leave a seller review. The seller took the listing down as soon as the bench was taken, so I couldn’t leave any feedback! Ugh!

*Deep breath*

Moving on…

My husband very kindly fixed the legs for me, and I gave it two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black. Just like that, the bench was transformed, and I couldn’t be happier!

Amazing what a little paint can do, eh?

I had originally considered painting the bench a charcoal gray, but when I saw Lauren at Bless’er House paint a darling vintage desk with Fusion Mineral’s Coal Black, I was sold! What she said about every room needing a “little black dress” is so true!

Oh, and if you’re wondering about those botanical prints on the wall, you can get them for free here on the blog!

Do you have any fun FB Marketplace (or Craigslist, etc.) stories? I’d love to hear them! Drop me a comment below!

This post contains affiliate links for which I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. Please click here for more details. I truly appreciate your support!

While I’m hesitant to call it trash, this rocking chair I bought off Facebook Marketplace was in really rough shape. It was dirty, the wood was rough, the paint chipping, and nail heads were popping out in some places. But like any good project piece, it had one important thing: potential.

This was actually my first Marketplace purchase ever! I am sure I overpaid and drove entirely too far in rush hour traffic to get it, but it was a learning experience and of course I got this great little chair out of the deal.

Tip: Keep small bills around so that you have exact change for marketplace transactions. I had absolutely no change in the house, nor the time to get change, and ended up giving the seller $5 over her asking price. Ugh, thrifter fail.

And then it sat in our garage for a few months because, you know, life happened.

Then the other day during nap time, I ventured out into the sticky sauna we call August in the Midwest and decided to clean this baby up. First I gave the whole thing a good wipe down, then went at it with some course sandpaper to smooth out all the rough wood and get off any chipping paint. I followed that up with a fine grit sandpaper and lastly tapped in any nail heads that were sticking out. Don’t want any little fingers or legs catching on those! By now it was feeling nice and smooth.

I purchased this little chair to go in my daughter’s nursery, so I thought blush pink would be the perfect color to paint it! I had really considered trying out Fusion Mineral Paint’s “English Rose,” because it looks absolutely gorgeous, but cringed at the thought of the expense for such a small project, especially when I probably wouldn’t end up using the extra paint for anything. I decided to give Rustoleum’s “Chalked” series a try. I purchased a can of “Chalked” in Blush Pink. It was less than $8 and was eligible for Amazon Prime. Sweet deal!

It took the entire can (two coats) to complete this little chair, but it covered very well. There are no hints of that vibrant red popping through, in spite of not priming, and I love how it turned out!

It really is such a lovely color. Very feminine and vintage, which is totally what I was going for.

I stumbled upon this little pillow on clearance at Joann Fabric a few weeks before redoing this chair. Perfect fit and oh so sweet! (Rug is from Pier1, in case you were wondering.)

So if you’re looking for an inexpensive chalk paint, I’d recommend giving the Rustoleum “Chalked” series a try. I’ve only used the spray version, but I’m pleased with it, and it was certainly budget-friendly. Plus, being able to spray the chair instead of brush was a major time saver! Whew!

(Want to know a fun fact? That giant rabbit right there was mine – I got her for my first Easter. She’s been well loved over the years!)

The little rocking chair looks so sweet in the corner of the nursery, but you know who is getting the most enjoyment out of it? My little boy. He has a rocking chair of his own in his room – just his size – but why not use sister’s chair, too? So the sibling sharing fun begins. Haha.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links. Click here to learn more.

Update: This post was written several years ago, before I had much experience with Fusion Mineral Paint. I now recommend skipping a top coat altogether for pieces that will receive moderate wear, as Fusion has a built in top coat. For heavier traffic pieces, you can use Fusion’s “Tough Coat.” I am leaving the rest of this post intact as a learning tool.
Blessings,
Melissa

Never judge a book by its cover, right? Or maybe we should say never judge a table by its ugly green top!

We were in need of end tables for our living room. We had one measly little table left over from my husband’s bachelor days (I’m pretty sure it was a Target clearance special), and it just wasn’t cutting it.

I scoured the internet, Facebook Marketplace, and various stores for end tables that would fit our space and needs, but came up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. You see, I needed two matching tables that would be tall enough that we could fit one over this monstrosity:

It was huge, it was shiny, and it was the bane of my decorating existence.

Many times in marriage, you have to compromise for the sake of marital harmony, and so it was with the subwoofer. Apparently we “need” it and this one is too fabulous to replace with a smaller one (you know, like one that could hide in a basket). So the deal was if we kept it, I could at least put it under an end table between our couch and wall so it wouldn’t be visible from most angles in the room. Finding two matching tables that height was no small feat.

Then one day, the kids and I were in Goodwill, and I spotted these two end tables hiding under a pile of stuff. $30 for the pair!

I was so excited – they had so much potential! However, there was no way I was going to be able to fit them in the car with the kids in tow, and I had forgotten my measuring tape at home, so I couldn’t be sure they would even work in our space. I begrudgingly passed them up, hoping that the ugly green tops would turn people off and that the pile of junk on top would help hide them until I could talk it over with my husband. When he got home that afternoon, we talked it over, he went back up to Goodwill, measuring tape in hand, and brought them home. Eeeee!

Now, you might be thinking they don’t look like much, and I don’t blame you. They were pretty rough and dirty.

But just look at all that detailing!

I gave them a good cleaning and set to work. All the steps I’m about to tell you I did over the course of several weeks because, you know, I work during nap time and “after-mom hours” (but that never really ends, who am I kidding).

This right here has to be my favorite chalk paint color of ALL TIME: DecoArt Americana Chalk Finish Paint in “Vintage.” I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but I’ve linked it to Amazon so you can see it. It’s slightly cheaper on Amazon right now, but you could use a coupon at Hobby Lobby and make it even cheaper! (Always use that weekly 40% off coupon! Just go to their website or use their app.)

This color is the perfect vintage blue with just a hint of green. I know the jar right there looks green, but don’t go by that.

I did not sand the tables. I decided to just give them a cleaning and go straight on with the paint. Let me warn you, though, that different wood finishes will handle paint differently. It’s a good idea to rough up the finish if it’s especially shiny and slick. Also, if you plan to use a water-based topcoat, like a polyacrylic, certain woods like mahogany will wick the stain color up through your paint if you haven’t sealed it with a stain-blocking primer like this. I did not use a primer, and I’ve not had any trouble, but I kind of wish I had just to give it more durability. I’d recommend it to be on the safe side, especially if you’re not going to sand.

Back to the fabulous vintagey paint! A lot of times people will do some post-paint sanding or use an antiquing glaze to give interest to a piece and highlight some of the details. When it comes to distressing, I am a minimalist. I like some interest, but really don’t want my piece to look like it fell out of the truck on its way to my house.

I decided to do my own version – I call it “Missing Spots.” Haha. Seriously though, by simply not working the paint down into all the nooks and crannies, it left some depth to the details that helped them pop.

I taped off the green leather tops of the tables and gave these babies two coats of “Vintage,” allowing them to fully dry between coats.

The next job was to tackle the leather tops. They were SO dry, cracked, and worn that there would be no conditioning them or trying to bring them back to life.

I very carefully taped off the edges, making sure that all the lines would be straight.

For this endeavor, I turned to Fusion Mineral Paint in Lamp White. Why? Because I already had it…and I thought it would go well with the Vintage paint…and it does.

Allow me to give you my honest feedback on Fusion Mineral Paint, if I may.

The Pros:

• It goes on very smoothly and dries evenly.
• It comes in beautiful colors.
• It seems to be more durable than I expected.

A Few Cons, with Explanations:

• It is a bit pricey – not as expensive as something like Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, but it’s more than you’re going to pay at the hardware store for a little can of latex paint. I don’t live near a Fusion Mineral Paint supplier, so I have to order mine on Amazon, and by the time you throw in the cost of shipping, it adds up.
• The general hype is that you don’t have to sand or anything before you paint. However, the paint comes with a prepping flow chart, and in many cases it would behoove you to rough up your piece with sandpaper first. So the non-prepping step is kind of over-rated.
• The other idea that seems to be floating out there is that you only need one coat on your piece and you’re done. Eh, maybe it’s user error, but after roughing up the finish on a bunch of dining chairs, it definitely took two coats of paint per chair.
• They say that the 500ml container goes a loooong way, and while it does go decently far, it didn’t go nearly as far as I expected.

Bottom line: It’s beautiful paint and I recommend it, but it’s also been over-hyped and can’t live up to all the impossible expectations floating around out there.

Sorry – back to our originally scheduled programming:

The table tops got brushed with a coat of the Fusion Lamp White, then rolled with two more coats, using a foam roller. I allowed each coat to dry several hours before re-applying.

Here is the part where I hope you can learn from my mistakes and avoid yourself some headaches.

Remember to test your topcoat in an inconspicuous spot first, although this is pretty impossible with a table top.

I decided to top-coat the whole table because I have a toddler and a baby and, well, life happens. So I sprayed them with Rust-oleum Satin Clear Enamel, which I love for top-coating furniture. I used it on my dining chairs after painting with Fusion, and it gave them a beautiful, extra-durable finish. While this enamel spray worked well on the body of the end tables, the leather top was not perfectly level, and it ended up looking splotchy.

I would not recommend using a sprayed top coat on a painted leather surface. It’s going to look uneven.

So I re-rolled the tops with two more coats of Fusion. Next, I foam-brushed on some General Finishes Flat Out Flat Topcoat. Not good. Even though I tried to keep the application very thin and smooth, it pooled in sections and actually cracked my paint! I was beyond upset.

I picked myself back up off the floor (kidding, mostly), touched up the cracked spots and rolled with two more layers of Fusion. Oooh boy.

It was at this point I realized that there was probably no topcoat that was going to work out for me, and I decided to put Fusion’s promise of durability to the test.

Fusion Mineral Paint has a curing time of about 21 days for maximum durability.

It says that on the jar and they mean it. I was impatient, moved the tables back into the living room the next day, and topped them with decorations. My metal picture frame left some little indentations where I originally set it, but I’ve noticed that nothing else has left a mark since the 3-week curing time has passed.

So please learn from my mistake and wait the curing time before putting anything on your table top!

At the end of the day, I am super happy with how these tables turned out. With their fresh, beautiful color and unique detailing, they have become two of my favorite pieces in the whole house.

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