Sonia’s Side Table Makeover: before, during, and after

Earlier this summer, I poked around Facebook Marketplace to find a small table for Sonia.

There was an old black dresser there (from Mr. FG’s bachelor days!) and she wanted something smaller and more beautiful to replace it.

So, I found this table.

It wasn’t bad as-is, but the finish was kind of worn. And it didn’t match the rest of Sonia’s furniture at all.

For all of you that hate to see old furniture painted, rest assured that this was just a mass-produced piece.

No dovetails!

The nightstand sat in her room for a while, untouched, because

• July was consistently too hot for painting
• August was consistently too wet and humid for painting

Finally at the end of August, the weather broke enough for me to tackle this project.

I sanded it, using my trusty Bosch orbital sander.

Since I was painting, not staining, I just removed the majority of the finish. I didn’t have to get down to bare wood.

Then I rolled/brushed on a coat of Zinnser 1-2-3 primer.

You can see that the primer coat always looks a bit blotchy; that’s totally fine. Primer isn’t for coverage; primer is for helping the finish stick.

Once that dried, I applied two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance paint in Cloud White (sheen is satin).

I’ve used this paint on:

• my kitchen cabinets
• Sonia and Zoe’s twin beds
• Sonia’s Goodwill dresser
• Zoe’s Ethan Allen nightstand

Benjamin Moore Advance paint is easy to apply, cleans up with water, and dries to a hard, durable finish. Major thumbs up!

(not sponsored; I just like this paint.)

It is fairly expensive, but I only needed a single gallon to do my entire kitchen full of cabinets.

And this second gallon has done two beds, a big dresser, and two nightstands. I’ve only used about half a gallon even after all that furniture painting.

 

I considered just painting the original wooden handle, but instead, I went to Home Depot and bought a knob that matched the finished on Sonia’s dresser drawer pulls.

 

And while I was at it, I switched out the brushed nickel pulls on her desk for bronzed pulls.

Now all the furniture in her room has matching pulls, and it all looks so much more coordinated!

Sonia keeps her sunglasses, wallets,keys, mask, and inhaler in the drawer; all the things she needs to leave the house.

Her record player fits perfectly on the shelf.

And on the top she has an oil lamp (from an antique store), a vintage container with buttons (from my aunt) and a vintage radio (from 605 Mod).

The Facebook Marketplace seller had asked to see photos of the table when it was done, so I messaged her a few “after” photos, and she was delighted.

So. The seller is happy, and so is Sonia.

Happiness all around!

If you have any questions about furniture painting, let me know in the comments.

P.S. Click here to see all of the posts I’ve ever done about painting.