Back today with another furniture transformation AND the next major piece of the rec room decor. To bring you up to speed, we’re aiming for a nautical-industrial style in that room and so far we’ve updated a vintage waterfall desk, added an industrial vibe to a plain old peg board and created large scale art from scrap wood. Next up? A DIY Beach Inspired TV Table!
But first, an introduction. We’ve teamed up with The FAT Paint Co. for this particular makeover. You guys. I might be going out on a socially awkward limb here – but I think I might be besties with FAT Paint. It’s a chalk-style paint that is Canadian-made and available across North America.
I reached out to the fine people at FAT Paint because a) I like to try new things and b) I’m always extremely excited when something awesome is available in Halifax. We are a big, capital city – and yet there seems to be a lack of awesome sometimes – HELLO IKEA?!
So my hope was FAT Paint would be everything I’d dreamed and more. Spoiler – it totally is!
Here’s what I started with.
I know I’m probably going to draw the ire of the ‘wood purists’ out there. This piece is about three years old. It’s from Wicker Emporium. We bought it on sale and got a further discount because parts of the wood was actually damaged. It was never really our style – but was a steal of a deal for us at the time. We liked the size and the lines, but always felt like it was too dark for our tastes.
It’s probably hard to see, but it has a really glossy finish.
I settled on Antique Wedgewood as the colour. It totally has that subtle beach vibe and yet is sophisticated enough to be in a main area of our home.
I really wanted to test this paint. Like REALLY test it. So I didn’t sand the console at all before starting. All I did was wipe the gross dust off it 😛
With a 2 inch natural bristle brush, I applied one even coat to the piece. AND THAT’S IT.
ONE COAT. And it looked this gorgeous.
Let’s put that in perspective. When I paint, I either watch Netflix or I set up a playlist of songs and work through it. You guys – I barely go to the “Escargot – My Car Go!” line in my favourite Notorious B.I.G song before this puppy was finished being painted. It was only song four on my playlist!
I was impressed. And I used my extra time to dance.
Then I hit up the fabric store. I loved the colour of the paint, but I want this piece to have a little bit of an extra oomph. Initially I thought a stencil – but the finish on the paint is too lovely … so then I veered towards fabric.
Striped nautical canvas weight fabric in hand, I cut out some plain poster board to fit the insert in the console. It’s a trick I learned from Bre at Brepurposed for adding fabric to shelves. Worked like a charm. I just cut the fabric and covered the poster board. Done-zo.
With an even hand and some 100-grit sand paper, I went over the entire piece. Normally, I am deliberate in my distressing. But this time, I used the same weight everywhere and the paint responded beautifully. The brush strokes were blended and the dark wood beneath peeks out in all the right spots.
The finishing touch is the protection. I expect this media console will take some degree of abuse. We won’t be putting food on it or anything, but it will need something.
Enter the CLEAR Top coat from The FAT Paint co. I’m always SOOOOO Nervous to add a top coat to chalky finishes because they either add a weird shine or they go on unevenly or in the WORST cases, they yellow.
This? This did none of those things. In fact, I think it helped the distressed paint blend even more. I applied it liberally but evenly with a synthetic brush and a few hours later, it was dry and you couldn’t even really tell there was a top coat on it. Just the way I like it.
I think I’ll be using this on a lot of my projects. Another bonus is that it’s not nearly as smelly as wax.
The final step was to give the inner console a pop with some Warm White. I asked for a test pot and I barely cracked the surface to cover the back and sides.
Affixed my fabric with some double sided poster tape. Put the hardware back on – et voila!
DIY Beach Inspired Media Console aka (as Dan says) – Tv tables don’t have to be ugly! 🙂
No. No they don’t 🙂 And I realize there is no tv currently on this console. But you get the idea, right?
A huge thank you to The FAT Paint Co. for providing us with the paint and finishings to complete this makeover and for letting us introduce this new product to Halifax.
Part of me is desperate to start a Flippin’ Cocktail night… you know, dance to some Biggie, paint some things, drink some wine 🙂 One step at a time. We’ve got to paint the basement floor first :O
Until next time mes amis,
-E
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