French Linen Entry Table

Today I am taking it back to my farmhouse roots.  Whoop whoop!  If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve been experimenting a lot with different products, techniques, colors and finishes.  While that has been a blast, I wanted to do a simple beautiful piece in a one-color finish with distressing to accent the curves, fluting and details.

A friend of mine bought this table for me at her friend’s rummage sale.  She texted me pics, negotiated prices and delivered them (2 tables!) to me.  Nice friend, right?!  All it needed was a good cleaning, and it was ready to paint.

Wet Distressing

I painted the base in 2 coats of French Linen, which is a beautiful greige color.  After the second coat had dried for about a hour, I wet distressed the apron and legs.  I chose this technique because it is easier than dry sanding with less mess, and it can give a more authentically aged look.  To me, it mimics the look of chippy milk paint, but you have more control over the chippiness.

To wet distress, I use a wet green Scotchbrite pad.  I scrub a little in the area where I want to remove paint, and I dry it off with a paper towel in my other hand.  It is best to go at it little by little, drying each area, to ensure you aren’t taking off more paint than desired.  Once you get a feel for how much is coming off, you can speed it up a bit.

Layering Stains

The top wasn’t in terrible shape, so at first I thought I would try to restore it.  But I didn’t seem to have the products on hand that I wanted to use, so I used what I had instead.  I started by brushing on a water-based gel stain called Black Magic with a chip brush.  I let it dry completely, and then I brushed on White Magic.  I also let that dry, but had some unevenness I wanted to fix, so I went in with Tobacco Road.  There was also more streaking than I wanted, so I switched over to using the blue applicator sponge from Dixie Belle.

Sealing

I chose Gator Hide to seal the top, since it is water resistant and durable.  I mixed it with a squirt of the Tobacco Road gel stain, and applied it with the sponge.  You can only do this if both products are water-based, though, which these are.  Having the color in the sealer helps create a smoother streak-free finish, and blurs out any unblended areas in your finish.  So that’s a little trick you can try!

Here are the products I used.

Resource List:

(These are affiliate links from which I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you)

• Entry table (thrifted)
• French Linen
• Voodoo Gel Stains – Tobacco Road, Black Magic, White Magic
• Gator Hide
• Blue Gator Hide sponge

By the way, if you like that frame leaning on the table, it was done in Dixie Belle’s patina paint line.  You paint a base coat that has particles of metal in it, and then spray an activating spray that causes it to actually rust.  You can read more about it the frame project here.

Please Pin!

If you’d like to get my free 1-page guide called “6 Elements of Farmhouse Style”, click on the picture below.  Let’s stay connected!