Home Designs: Murphy's Table

Murphy's law states, "Whatever can go wrong will."

Meet Murphy's table.

It looks innocent enough. A well built little table that someone else had done a makeover on. It was just a few dollars at the thrift store. You would likely buy it if you saw it, right? I did.

Now I'm going to share with you some lessons I've learned (or re-learned) from this little project.
Lesson #1-If you decide to paint on top of a manufacturers paint job, give that paint a thorough sanding. Many manufacturers use an oil based paint. If you paint with a latex paint it will not adhere well.
Lesson #2-Use a good primer. It appears that the original owner may have primed this table first, but if you don't use a quality primer, after sanding, your nice paint job will chip easily.

A GOOD PREP JOB=A GOOD PAINT JOB.

Lesson #3-If you buy someone else's makeover, first do the fingernail test. In an inconspicuous spot dig into the paint with your fingernail. If it chips off with the pressure of your fingernail, no amount of new paint will fix the problem of a poor base coat. If you have a poor base coat you'll need to strip the entire piece.
Lesson #4-Be sure to clean the item before painting.
Lesson #5-Don't be in a rush or be doing too many things at one time. This is a hard lesson for most women to learn. I accidentally dropped my cute table and cracked one it's legs because I wasn't following this rule.
Lesson #6-Wood glue and a clamp can fix just about anything. Notice that I said wood glue? (Refer to Lesson #10)
Lesson #7-A few light coats of paint are much better than one heavy coat. Too much paint usually results in drips and/or brush lines.
Lesson #8-Lightly sand between coats of paint.
Lesson #9-Let the paint dry thoroughly, between coats and on your final coat.

Lesson #10-Use the right tool to make the job go faster. Oftentimes taking what seems to be a shortcut actually takes longer than if you would have used the right tool.