Sugar Plum Sundae

Mississippi Mud Pie

This week's feature is a huge transformation, taking a garage sale coffee table and giving it a faux barn wood look.

~ A Sweet Little Treat for the Home ~

Mississippi Mud Pie

Hello my Sweets!

I found this coffee table at a yard sale one Saturday. It was really heavy, but it was not real wood, so that gave me pause. It was pressed wood and some of the top was worn down to expose the pressed wood. Again, that gave me pause. What made me go for it? The plank-like detail on the top gave me a great idea for a transformation, and it had hinges so that it could extend out from a coffee table to a large square! But how to get from someone’s yard sale discard to an awesome, functioning piece of furniture?? Read on my friends!

So, what was my great transformation idea? A faux barnwood/driftwood look! I had never tried this faux finish before, but everyone is into farmhouse right now, and one of my favorite techniques is dry brushing, so I thought I would give it a whirl. Since it opened into a larger table, I had two tabletops to complete – I sure had my work cut out for me! Also, the support bar for the base broke in transport. 😣

The first thing that I did was break out my wood putty and begin to sand and fill in all of the worn spots on both sides of the table. This step took a lot of filling, waiting to dry, sanding, filling again, repeat. I like to use Wood Epoxy for this step, as I find it is easy to mold into place without crumbling like some of the wood fillers seem to. After this loooooong process, I painted the whole piece in a base color of brown. I chose to use a rich brown called Coffee Bean by Dixie Belle for this step. It took about three coats for complete coverage. You can see a little bit of the texture change from where I filled in, because it is a very matte chalk paint, but that won’t matter once I start dry brushing.

Now comes the fun part! I wish I could give you step by step instructions for this, but honestly, you just keep layering paint until you like what you see. I used paint that was on hand – a custom white chalk paint, Classic French Gray, and Light French Gray (both by Sherwin Williams). Simply put a paint brush in one hand and a rag in the other for blending and lightly dry brush one color at a time in the direction of the “grain”, blending or removing paint as needed. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier to blend the colors if I used chalk paint instead of latex. I was impatient and used what I had on hand, but save yourself some trouble and use chalk paint, spritzing water as needed to blend, and wiping back color as needed to create a weathered look. Don’t worry if at first you think you have made a huge mess of it. I was there several times during the project. Just keep wiping, blending and layering a little bit at a time and it will start to come together. Once I was satisfied that I had achieved the look of old wood with paint, I sanded lightly to create some texture and really get that old wood feel. I opened up the table and started the whole process all over again on the inside (guess I didn’t take any pictures of the progress on the inside). 🤷🏻‍♀️

*First Layer…………………..What Have I Done????…………………..Getting Close.*

Completing the base was fairly simple. I just painted the whole thing in the custom white chalk paint (Bit of Sugar and calcium carbonate) that I had on hand and lightly distressed it for interest. The one challenge that I had in this step was that the support bar for the base was broken in transit, so I had to create a new one with a 1×1. I drilled two holes in both ends for the dowels and the piece to accept the dowel from the other side. I used wood glue and clamps to secure the whole thing while it dried. I also painted the trim around the table white and lightly distressed it to match the base. I feel like doing this made it appear that there were old wood planks on top of a white table base. I think this helped to “sell” the worn barnwood illusion that I was going for.

Once the base was secured to the table, the whole piece got several coats of Gator Hide by Dixie Belle. I chose this product because they claim that it is super durable and waterproof. Since I imaged this table being used for entertaining, school work, puzzles, etc., it was important that it would be durable. I read that this product can be hard to use and leaves streaking. I was not so concerned with that because you really can’t ruin a worn finish like faux barnwood – the more texture, the cooler it looks. However, my experience with the product was fine. It went on easy and as long as it was not overworked, there was no streaking. I actually can attest to it’s claims that it is waterproof. On the day that the customer came to buy the table, it was raining. We got it to her car as fast as we could and I ran in for a towel. When I came out, all the water had beaded up and was just wiped away. YAY Gator Hide!

*Opened Up and Looking Farmhouse Fresh.*

This table was my first attempt at a faux barnwood finish, but probably not my last! It was really fun to do and really hard to mess up, so give it a whirl! Find your inner farm girl (or boy). 👩🏻‍🌾👨🏻‍🌾

Thank you so much for joining me for Sugar Plum Sundae! Please check back every Sunday for more yummy recipes to transform reclaimed “junk” into sweet little treats for the home!

For more delicious treats, follow Sugar Plum Preserves:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SugarPlumPreserves/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pinterest/sugarplumpreserves

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugarplumpreserves/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/tQplTZMCjq0

XOXO

Michele

Materials List (may not be all inclusive):

Epoxy Wood Putty https://amzn.to/3cPAlEh

Calcium Carbonate https://amzn.to/2TmGmRa

Dixie Belle Blue Sponge https://amzn.to/2X9Hp8k

Dixie Belle Chalk Paint, Coffee Bean https://amzn.to/2WLGtbb