Lucketts Favorites: Mid-century Modern Herringbone Tables

Thank you SO much to Becky from Preparing for Peanut for sending me this picture she snapped during the market!

Shortly after I found out I would be selling furniture at Lucketts, I picked up these mid-century modern tables on craigslist.

The finish on both tables was in really bad shape, and had alligatored in a lot of places. The tops both had water rings on them. 

They were very solid and had potential, so I was excited about the acquisition.

To take off the bad finish, I sanded until my hands were about to fall off. I even bought a Dremel Multi-Max with the detail sander attachment to help sand the places where I was struggling and make the process go faster. 

Once the finish was gone, I applied a coat of wood conditioner and then a coat of Minwax Antique Walnut stain. I really didn't like the color I got, which was much closer to black than I wanted, so I put two layers of General Finishes Java gel stain over the Minwax to darken and richen it up a bit. I let the stain dry for a couple days before I got to painting it. 

I knew I wanted to paint a herringbone pattern on these tables in an effort to kind of exaggerate their mid-century, "Mad Men" style. My original plan was to use some of my white Benjamin Moore Advance paint to paint the pattern, but I was coming down to the wire and really didn't have time to wait for the dry time of Advance paint. So instead, I ran off to buy some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White from the Stylish Patina space at Stifel &Capra in Falls Church. 

I chose to use chalk paint mostly because I knew it would dry quickly and cover well. I taped out the row of stripes that faced one direction first and painted the pattern on the table there. Once that was dry, I taped out the rows of strips facing the opposite direction and painted those. 

Here's what the table looked like after I painted the pattern. 

Another advantage of using the chalk paint was that I could sand the pattern very easily without making the paint peel. When the herringbone pattern was dry, I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand the edges of the color and give it a slightly distressed feel. Then I wiped off the dust with a damp cloth. 

To seal the table, I first brushed on a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax. After giving that about an hour to set, I mixed a tiny amount of my Java stain with some wax and brushed that over the entire thing to make the graphic herringbone pattern not quite as severe. I buffed off that wax almost immediately so that it wasn't too dark. 

Side note: Can  you believe this is the only good picture I have of them? Can you believe this is the one I consider "good"? Fail. 

Thank you SO much to Becky from Preparing for Peanut for sending me this picture she snapped during the market!

Unfortunately I didn't take very good pictures of the finished product. They were a hit at Lucketts--so many people stopped by to look at them--but they didn't sell until Sunday. So, note to self: just because something looks really cool doesn't mean that a ton of people will want it in their living room/bedroom. I ended up selling the tables to Amy Theodore of Hunt & Gather, who had some really rockin' mid-century pieces in their tent too. I'm mega flattered that those girls loved these tables as much as I did. 

I know some people came by and took pictures of them, so if you were one of those people can you pleeeeeaaaaase email them to me? You would seriously become my bff. 

Linked to: The Shabby Creek Cottage, Domestically Speaking, Miss Mustard Seed, Redoux, Shabby Nest, Making Lemonade