Back in the Swings of Things: Drafting Table Update

If you recall, a while back I blogged about this drafting table I had and tackling a large painting job right before Christmas.

I still haven't put up the tree yet...

Which makes me wonder if I was somehow using this project to procrastinate...is such a thing possible???

Anyhow, we all know how important a work surface is to the crafter.

Mine had a burn hole in it and was bumpy from not washing off various things like modge podge and paint. It was really a train wreck. 

I also wanted to add a little strip of molding at the bottom to hold a washable cutting mat.

Now, I am a lucky girl as THE MAN has all sorts of fun tools in his garage. After a large amount of sanding to get a nice surface on the top and the legs ready for paint, I was then able to spay on my first color and basecoat of cream. 

Now, I don't think you'd need to necessarily spray the entire project, but in this case there was a lot of sanding and it is older, so it gave the whole thing a nice even basecoat. I was planning on sanding off the black too, so wanted to make sure I got a nice contrast for the edges and a distressed look. 

Here is a close up of the little molding strip I added and also painted a patina green. 

 

It took at least two weeks from sanding to final coat of clear on the top, so plan for your area to be down for quite a while! Might want to plan on setting up alternative work surfaces. I used a nice clear coat over top of my sanded edges to make sure they stayed looking old and I had something easy to wipe off dust & over spray. 

And a side shot of my table. It makes me happy every time I walk by...

The molding strip holding the cutting mat will really help me behave with items that are wet like paint and mists. Plus, putting all this time and effort into something makes me plan on being a whole lot nicer to it! We originally picked it up at a sale for $20 and I now have almost double in that in paint, not to mention sweat equity, so I think I will behave. 

Happy Monday!