Chippy Three Legged Table

And for my next trick I will turn an old table into a table. Well old table parts anyways. I mentioned on facebook a month or so ago that I scored three fabulously chippy table legs.

Along with the legs I had the front piece, one side and some random boards. Since I only had three legs I decided to make a corner table.

(For some reason I feel like I'm looking up this tables skirt with this shot)

The front and side pieces had been cut mortise and tenon style to fit into the legs. I was able to glue and clamp the front easy peasy. Then I cut the side piece in half and attached half to each side. I used the remaining boards for the angled back pieces. Pocket holes and screws attach everything together. I used 1" thick cedar boards for the top.

Are you a fan of chippy old paint? If not I am sure I'd laugh if I heard your reaction to this photo ;)

Now for how I finished the top. This was an experiment. I wanted to do a treatment that would tie in with the chippy finish on the legs. I decided to use Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. Her color Mustard Seed matches the chippy color on the table legs perfectly. Since cedar is very porous and the tannins in the wood tend to bleed through paint I decided to seal it with clear Shellac first. I know your won't get the famous milk paint chippy-ness when you paint on raw wood but I thought maybe I'd get it to do it's thing if I sealed the wood. In hind sight maybe I should have used two coats of shellac and let it dry longer.

Next I painted a random coat of the color Mustard Seed. After that dried I smeared some vaseline over the mustard color and on the bare wood were I didn't want the next paint color to stick. I wish I had used crackle medium but I didn't have any. Next I top coated with the color Ironstone.

The next day there was no magic chipping or flaking but the vaseline technique left a few chippy looking spots. I sanded until I got the look I wanted. I love how the grain of the wood is showing and little bits of the Mustard color are peaking through.

I applied a coat of Miss Mustard Seeds wax to the whole piece to protect and seal the paint. I love her wax, it's very creamy. It reminds me of pudding and smells pretty good. It applies easily with a brush and buffs to a lovely sheen.

I think it turned out really fun and I will be taking it to my space to sell next time I head that way.

I realized when trying to photograph this piece that I have no corners that are big enough to put it. They all have doorways or windows in the way. So I temporarily hung a curtain in the doorway. Whatever it takes right?