Mid Century Modern Corner Table Makeover

Date
May, 27, 2015

Ah it feels good to share a new piece of furniture with you! As I mentioned last week, things just weren’t going my way and I took a little break from posting. This is the table that I would have shared on Thursday for Themed Furniture Makeover Day. The theme was Small Tables and this guy fit the bill perfectly.

MID CENTURY MODERN CORNER TABLE MAKEOVER

MCM Corner Table

I’ve shared it on Facebook and in my What’s on My Porch series. Here’s a little refresher of what it looked like before:

MCM Corner Table

As you can see I didn’t change much. The wood was just too pretty to paint over the whole thing, but I did want to modernize it a bit with some white accents.

I started by wiping down the whole thing and giving it a good cleaning. I initially thought I was going to be able to keep the top as is and just revive it a bit with some oil or wax. So I went ahead and started painting the sides. Once I was done though, the crisp white just didn’t look right with the few dings and scratches that were there.

So I had to go back and cover up my freshly painted white sides with some paper and tape so I could sand down the top and bring it back to life. I was out of sanding pads for my trusty corner cat, and asked the hubs to pick me up some while he was out.

Welp, I figured he could read my mind and knew that I wanted super coarse ones. Nope. He came home with the complete opposite; super fine. I figured I’d give them a try and see how they worked. At this point I was still thinking I was going to get this thing done by Thursday and it was Tuesday night.

I sanded it down and thought it might be ok so went ahead with the stain. After one coat, I could still see a lot of the scratches and knew I wasn’t going to be happy with it. I’d had enough for that night and it was too late to go to our local hardware store to get more sanding pads. I’d come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to get this guy done in time.

The next day, I used some much coarser pads and gave the table a good, deep sand. Now this is the first time I’ve used a light colored stain. And I was a bit nervous! I don’t know why, but there’s just something about applying a gorgeous dark stain to raw wood. The effect isn’t really the same with a lighter color. Although, it appears really dark in the can and I thought for sure I had picked up the wrong color.

Luckily it went on nice and light and was pretty much a perfect match to the rest of the table.

Golden Oak Stain

I used this for the top of the table and the drawer and left the legs as is since they were in pretty great shape. I used some flat topcoat to seal the entire piece.

Flat Topcoat

Sorry for the lack of process pics. I was getting angry with how things were going, taking photos was the last thing on my mind. #bloggyfail

I love when I buy a piece that has a label on it so I can learn a little more about it. The inside of the the drawer has this:

Genuine Tag

I just love finding stuff like this and imagining the life this little table had. Was it originally stained in this light color, or did it’s previous owner do it? And I mean come on, “Ready-To-Paint Furniture”?? Sounds like perfection to me 🙂

The final touch was giving the original hardware a fresh coat of gold spray paint. I don’t know if any other knob would look as good. It’s so tiny and cute, I just couldn’t change it.

I want to tell you about the art print that I hung above it too. Skaneateles is my home town in Upsate NY and I did some googling a while ago looking for old photos I could use. It’s awesome to see all the old maps, postcards, newspapers etc. that pop up. The internet is seriously amazing.

Anyway, I found these cool blueprints from an old school house that is actually right up the road from where I grew up. Luckily they were pretty high resolution and I was able to download them and bring them into Photoshop to resize. I added the text myself and then I sent them to Staples as Engineering Prints.

If you’ve never done this before, it’s the cheapest way to get some large scale art. However, they only do black and white. You can get a few different sizes, I think I used 24×36 and it was like $3. What a deal right?! I ended up cutting off the bottom half because it looked too big along side this piece.

And now I have some awesome art that has special meaning and cost me pennies!

Two Toned Corner Desk

MCM Corner Desk Makeover

Mid Century Corner Desk Makeover

Painted MCM Corner Desk

Two Toned MCM Corner Desk

DIY Art Print

DIY Art Above MCM Desk

So my Themed Furniture Piece is almost a week late. But better late than never right? 😉

I love how unique this piece is. Have you ever seen anything like it? Would you have done anything differently? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Have a fabulous day everyone!

MCM Corner Table Makeover

brepurposed

43 Comments

  1. Reply

    Kathryn Griffin @TheDedicatedHouse

    June 6, 2015

    Hi Bre! I wanted to let you know that I have a new series that is a compilation of all of the weekly features of all of the parties at The Dedicated House. You of course, were one of those features. Here is the link to the Weekly Feature Series. http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/06/features-from-week.html Pop on over and check out all of the features. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 8, 2015

      Hi Kathryn! Thank you so much for the awesome feature! Heading over to check it out now. Hope you have a great week!!

  2. Reply

    Bethany @ The Southern Couture

    June 5, 2015

    You are an absolute master at redoing furniture. Great job once again. I am never surprised to find that you have done it again. Thank you for sharing at Motivational Monday Link Party! Hope to see what you have been up to again this week.

    Bethany from The Southern Couture

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 8, 2015

      Aw you are seriously too sweet! That just made my day 🙂 Thank you Bethany!! <3

  3. Reply

    Amy @ Homey Oh My!

    June 4, 2015

    Stunning. What an amazing piece! Also I’m obsessed with that typewriter. I need it.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 8, 2015

      Thanks girl! And I know isn’t it great? It’s been in our family and we used it in our wedding. I totally forgot about it and finally stole it back from my parents house. It’s the perfect staging prop!

  4. Reply

    Kathryn Griffin @TheDedicatedHouse

    June 3, 2015

    I love this makeover! So chic! Thank you for sharing. You are the Star Feature at the Before & After Wednesday party at The Dedicated House. Here is the link to this week’s party. http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/06/before-after-wednesday-week-49.html Hope to see you again at the bash! Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 4, 2015

      Yay! Thank you so much Kathryn! What a great surprise to wake up to today 🙂 Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

  5. Reply

    Rachel (Lines Across)

    June 3, 2015

    Wow gorgeous!!! I just love this style of furniture!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 4, 2015

      Thanks Rachel!! Mid Century furniture is so beautiful 🙂

  6. Reply

    Lidy

    June 3, 2015

    Wow!!! You did such an amazing job! What a beautiful piece

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 4, 2015

      Thank you Lidy!!! 🙂

  7. Reply

    Jaclyn

    June 3, 2015

    Omgsh, I absolutely ADORE that table!!!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 4, 2015

      Thanks so much Jaclyn!!

  8. Reply

    Lindsay - Shrimp Salad Circus

    June 3, 2015

    I love that you let the furniture’s shape and design take the spotlight, just giving it the perfect finishing touches to breathe new life into it!!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 4, 2015

      Thanks Lindsay! There was no way I could paint this whole thing, the wood was just too beautiful!

  9. Reply

    Sarah

    June 2, 2015

    This is a gorgeous makeover! Well done! I love it when the integrity of a piece of wood furniture is preserved and enhanced.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      June 2, 2015

      Thank you so much, Sarah!!

  10. Reply

    Katherines Corner

    May 30, 2015

    It’s lovely, the shape is wonderful. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Watch for your feature on Monday xo

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 31, 2015

      Thank you so much Katherine!!

  11. Reply

    the cape on the corner

    May 29, 2015

    what an interesting piece, and i love the color combo you did to it.
    b

  12. Reply

    CreativeKhadija

    May 29, 2015

    How pretty! thanks a lot for sharing details 🙂

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 29, 2015

      Thank you so much!!

  13. Reply

    Trish

    May 29, 2015

    The table turned out beautifully. I love the stain. It looks great with the white paint. The art work looks great sitting above it.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 29, 2015

      Thank you so much Trish!!

  14. Reply

    Theresa @DearCreatives

    May 28, 2015

    I love mid century modern. This is so pretty!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 28, 2015

      Thank you so much Theresa!

  15. Reply

    Pam@over50feeling40

    May 28, 2015

    I love old typewriters! I need to find one for my house…love your ideas and thanks for sharing with the Thursday Blog Hop!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 28, 2015

      Thank you Pam!

  16. Reply

    Tabatha@ChicByTab

    May 27, 2015

    What a cool piece. I would love for you to share this post at my party. Hope to see you there! http://chicbytab.blogspot.ca/2015/05/chic-by-you-wednesday-linky-party-8.html

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 27, 2015

      Thank you so much Tabatha! All linked up 🙂 Have a great night!

  17. Reply

    Corinna - For My Love Of

    May 27, 2015

    I’ve never seen a piece like it but I really love it! Now I need a corner desk 😉

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 28, 2015

      Thank you so much Corinna! Aren’t they fun?!

  18. Reply

    Marie@The Interior Frugalista

    May 27, 2015

    Great makeover Bre! Keeping it the light golden color adds so much to this piece. Sweet furniture company ad – I love doing a little research on the pieces I work on too but yet have I come across such a sweet ad. Thanks for the tip on printing large size images! Love what you did with your sweet school house art. As always, your staging is impeccable.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 28, 2015

      Your comments always make me smile 🙂 It’s amazing what you can find on the internet and I was thrilled to find that cool ad! And I’m excited to find more old photos I can print off to use in my staging 🙂

  19. Reply

    Krista @ the happy housie

    May 27, 2015

    Such an incredible makeover Bre – I love how it turned out. Such history , and you did it perfect justice.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 27, 2015

      Thank you so much Krista! I really appreciate that! xo

  20. Reply

    Kristi

    May 27, 2015

    WOW! LOVE how this turned out Bre! The light stain really brings out the texture in the wood and pairs so perfectly with the white! And that print … how cool!!! Brilliant my friend!

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 27, 2015

      Thanks girl! I love that it was just a small update, but it makes such a big difference! And I’m in love with my print! I’ll definitely be printing off more 🙂

  21. Reply

    Angie @ Postcards from the Ridge

    May 27, 2015

    It turned out great! I love the shape of it. And thanks for sharing the old ad. That’s cool and the print is perfect.

    • Reply

      brepurposed

      May 27, 2015

      Thank you so much Angie! I love researching where a piece came from, it’s so fun!

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