Paint and Gel Stain End Tables
Why have an old piece of furniture laying around that you don’t particularly care for, when it is so simple to change it! I am really lazy when it comes to doing projects. I mean, I love to do projects, but I am lazy in how I go about doing them, so I don’t always go through all the recommended steps. Like sanding, I never sand unless it is absolutely necessary.
So I had a couple of end tables sitting around, they were a very 80’s brown wood, with a thick coat of shellac, and brass hardware. I forgot to take a before pic, but I am sure you can imagine them. I was in a big hurry to get the house ready for guests and I thought I would just spray paint them a nice teal color and be done with them.
I took them out back and spray painted them, but they ended up being a much brighter turquoise than I had planned. Now I had not sanded them, so they were kind of blotchy too. (I mentioned I was lazy.) I was out of spray paint and did not feel like driving to the store, so I checked my garage and found a can of paint in what looked like the same color. So I used it with a small watercolor brush to try and fill in the blotches on the table. The color was a bit different, but it ended up giving it a slightly glazed antiqued look. It actually turned out pretty good, what do you know!
I still thought they were a bit too bright, so after they were dry I took some General Finishes Gel Stain in Java and using a 2″ brush, stained the top of the tables. Then I did a second coat. Perfect! Well, perfect for a lazy person. 😉

