Darling Antique Round Pedestal Table

Two weeks ago, I went with a dear friend of mine to a giant indoor garage sale called Beautiful Junk, hosted by Jefferson County.  This thing was huge! It was basically an over-sized gymnasium at the fair grounds overflowing with donated items, all being shopped by mostly ladies my grandma's age. We were definitely among the youngest shoppers there! All the money raised from the event went to the Jefferson County Action Center, whose mission is to provide basic necessities to families in need. 

I was hoping to score some sweet furniture deals, and was overwhelmed instead by the amount of household items and decor that cluttered the rows of tables. SO.MUCH.STUFF! We had a blast digging through everything (for THREE HOURS!) and finding treasures to keep!

I can't say there wasn't any furniture at this sale, because over in one of the corners I found this gem hiding among some broken toddler chairs. It was beautiful! Beat up, filled with holes, a bit wobbly, but oh so round and antique-y and dainty and perfect!

I can't tell you how long I've been looking for a little round pedestal table JUST.LIKE.THIS that didn't cost a fortune. I guess these babies are hot commodities! And this one was only $10!! Slam dunk, people. This bad boy was comin' home with me!!

First order of business was to tighten the legs and fill all the holes on top. I have no clue how these 12 holes got here, or what their purpose may have been, but I did not want them. Wood putty to the rescue!

I have a love-hate relationship with wood putty. Love: it fills holes and dries as hard as wood and it sands down just like wood. Hate: it usually takes multiple rounds of filling to get the job done, its MESSY, and it's just plain annoying to work with. This table took 3 rounds of filling and sanding to get the surface perfectly flawless

You can see here I had already filled and sanded the holes, only to paint the table and still see evidence of the filled holes. SO, I added more wood putty (the white stuff) and sanded again.

 Wood putty comes in different colors to match the wood it's filling, and I happened to have white on hand. I prefer to work with the Elmer's brand of filler (found at Home Depot) and have had a ton of difficulty with the mini canisters by other brands which dry too fast to work with, and you can't get it off your fingers!

After finally getting the holes filled and sanded flush with the rest of the table, I painted a third coat on the top. She's painted with a chalk paint made from Sherwin William's color Drizzle. It's very similar to a robin's egg blue or Annie Sloan's Duck Egg Blue. Then, I sanded the whole thing with 400 grit finishing sandpaper for an extra smooth finish, distressed the edges with 150 grit to reveal the wood underneath, sealed it with clear wax for durability, and finished it with dark wax for an antiqued look!!

Isn't she DARLING?!?

Look at those details! Perfectly aged!

I seriously can't decide whether to keep or sell this one in my Etsy shop. I have enough furniture in my house, but I'm in LOVE with this table, and it's not that big, so why not keep it? On the other hand, I love this piece so much that I want to share it with the world and I want everyone to have one JUST LIKE IT! But there is only one, so yeah maybe I'll just keep it :).

One more look at that Before/After shot:

Ahhhh :) So bright and cheery and cute!!

Do you have any garage-sale finds you are planning to paint?