When I lived in L.A., one of my favorite pastimes was finding furniture to revamp.  It was easy there, I’d come across finds at yard sales and thrift stores, or in my neighborhood, left on the curb for someone with vision (like me!!) to come along and rescue.

But here in C.R., people definitely hold onto things, so the likelihood of coming across something worth the time to refinish is pretty much zero.  However, a few months ago, the hubby and I found the top to a spool used for cable wire at an abandoned construction site. I thought it would make a great patio table! So we loaded it into the back of his truck and took it home.  He was responsible for putting legs on it — and BAM! Ta-dah, patio table!

Because I start my day on the patio, sipping my coffee, sharing toast with the dogs and in the rainy season, taking in all the green around me, it was important to me that the table get prettied up.  I decided to do a wash/weathered look using a combo of my favorite colors.

First step, and under the strict supervision of my main doggie man, Merlin, I did a light sanding.

Because I am so accident prone when it comes to paint, it was more than necessary to put down plastic….lots and lots of plastic.  (Basically, if I’m painting something, 3/4 of the paint will go on the intended object and 1/4 will without a doubt go everywhere else.)

The main key to making weathered looking furniture is a dry brush and lots of coats of paint.  I layer the colors over each other until I get the desired effect and intensity of colors.

And no matter how much plastic and caution I use, without a doubt, I will drop paint (or the lid of the paint!) on some uncovered surface.

And at about this point, I felt it was what I wanted.After considerable clean up, both of myself and the patio, I was quite pleased with the results.  I now have a lovely, upcycled, refinished by me, patio table to sit at each morning, read my book and drink my coffee.

I still want to do something with the center portion.  Maybe a glass mosaic??  I’ll have to put more thought into that.