From EEK! to Shabby Chic- Making Your Furniture Shabby Chic by Hilary

Being newlyweds with no furniture I decided to go on a coffee table hunt. On my first trip to the Goodwill, I found a claw foot coffee table that was a horrible shade of what I call "wood brown".  I have learned to be optimistic when finding pieces and think, "What can I do to make this perfect for me?" Well luckily on this particular table all I needed to do was buy a can of ivory paint and sandpaper.

When decorating a room I would recommend to decipher what you want your primary furniture color to be (in my case ivory) and buy a gallon or more of paint because you will need it for your other amazing furniture finds! As for sandpaper the more coarse it is, the easier and faster it is to rough it up.

Here is a before of the coffee table :


First you want to lightly sand down your surface to achieve a textured look so your paint adheres properly. Take a old rag and wipe down the wood dust to have a clean surface. 

Next, apply your first coat of paint and allow it to dry. Usually depending on how dark your surface is you may need to apply one or possibly two more coats of paint. I would recommend allowing your furniture to dry over night. 

The next morning take your coarse sand paper and rough up the edges. To have an authentic weathered look, make sure to pay special attention to the areas that would normally have damage. These areas would be corners, sides, legs, feet etc. 

Once again, wipe off remaining wood dust and you're finished! The project takes only a half a day to complete total time!

When purchasing furniture, pay special attention to the material used, claw feet and embellishments on the top and sides, etc.  Usually these can give you clues as to whether you are buying antique furniture.  There are a lot of replications out there too, so be aware of that while shopping!

The finished product!!
 

Even my cat Meeko loves Shabby Chic!