painted entry table and mirror

A couple years ago, Nick and I moved into a new apartment and needed some furniture for the entryway.  We had a small budget since our savings was just blown away by the move from Indiana to Colorado.  After consulting with Craig's List, we found a petite console table that had seen better days, but they only wanted twenty bucks for it.

It was the perfect size and a nice DIY project sounded like fun.  After giving some attention to it and a silver mirror we already owned, our entryway was looking better and more functional.

To coordinate this furniture with our existing black coffee table, we went and bought matching hardware for both pieces.  It is such a quick and inexpensive way to update furniture either way.

Cost: $80 Time: 2 days Needed: console table ($20) mirror (owned) hand sander with sandpaper ($40) 32 oz black paint + primer ($15) paint brushes ($5) tarp (owned) 1.  Clean it.  Take a dry towel and wipe away any spider webs or dirt.  You may have drawer liner to rip out too.    2.  Sand it.  Place your tarp under your furniture. The sanding is usually the hardest and most exhausting step, especially if you have ornate furniture.  You will need to start with a coarse sandpaper to really get the existing stain or paint scraped off.  Be sure to get into the nooks.  The next pass you will want to swap the coarse sandpaper for a finer grain of sandpaper to basically make the wood smooth.  Go over each piece until you feel you have a good smooth foundation for your paint. 3.  Paint it.  Be sure to change into some old clothes for this part.  Tape off anything that does not need paint like the glass mirror.  Get out your brushes and wet them at the ends.  Shake up your paint before dipping into it.  Start painting away trying to keep your brush strokes going in one direction.  Cover each piece completely. 4.  Dry it.  Overnight drying is recommended, but depending on what type of paint you have you might be able to do another layer after a few hours. 5.  Repeat.  Give the furniture another coat and be sure to cover the bottom of the feet if you can.  After the drying is done, rip off any taped parts, move the pieces to their spots and add your decorative items.