Why I Painted My Antique Butterfly Table

Why I painted my antique butterfly table– because it was too much work to sand it. Yes I am admitting that I took the easy way out but before you get too upset let me tell you the story of how the table came to me.

This story goes back to around 2007 when hubby and I were driving around day dreaming about owning a home in this new subdivision that was going up near our current home. Anyhow, we turned into a new section of the development and there it was- a dumpster- with a white stenciled half moon piece of wood leaning up against it. I yelled “stop” and jumped out of the truck to climb up the side of the dumpter to see the rest of the shabby looking table. I was in heaven. There was a ton of stuff thrown in the dumpster so I made hubby crawl in the dumpster and lift the table out.

I wish I could find the pictures of the table before a friend of ours started sanding it (in 2013). He was staying with us while he looked for a new home and was bored so one day he got out my sander and sanded the top. The wood was beautiful and it was exciting to think that my dumpster antique butterfly table would get done. For the next few days he went out for a couple hours at a time sanding the legs. He went through a lot of sand paper and damaged the sanding pad on multimax tool. The thought was nice but way too much work so the table sat for the last 3 years as a plant stand.

Okay I confess- I procrastinate and this table never was a priority because I always thought I wanted it to be refinished and stained NOT painted. But things change and I was really tired of looking at the ugly table so I got out my sander and started to sand it again. No freaking way because the paint gummed up on the sand paper and it was way too much work! So I knew that I was going to paint it and cover up the ugly. I was not in the mood to use chemicals and, to be frank, I did not want to spend any more time on this dumpster dive table.

I wanted the table done so I could put my dining room back. Besides our friend sanded the table top so much that the screws from the hinges poked through in one place. The table had so many issues that to spend time sanding and refinishing it would not make its value go up. The table is sentimental to me as the coolest dumpster dive find. I also knew that using chalk paint would also help camouflage the rough legs. I sanded out most of the watermarks and stained with Minwax dark walnut and 2 coats of poly.

So how did I come up with the color for the legs? Well, the chairs you see in the picture are lighter and are a 50 cent mistint color paint sample (from Home Depot) in semi gloss. I liked the color because it is a hint of very light lavender but I knew that the 5 layers of color on the butterfly table may leach through a lighter color paint. I love the color purple so I took 2 trips and 2 days to decide on Heather Sachet by Behr. I love this color- it is feminine and it chic. If I tire of it in the future, I can paint it and start over again.

Take chances and think out side the box. Life is too short not too. Thanks for stopping by and this project cost less than $20-