Phone Table...a what?

Have you ever heard of a phone table?  I hadn't!  I mean I did grow up in a time where our phones were attached to the wall.  I mean we are talking old school yellow plastic phones.  No snazzy silver cordless phones, not even cell phones were in possession yet.  When rotary phones were in play, they used to put them on these tables.  The phone book went in the little cubby.  My sister picked up this antique for me at a local garage sale.  Which in my opinion is the best place to find furniture that are waiting for make-overs.  It's cheap and usually people are desperate to not bring the item back in their house.

I don't know why I am failing so bad at the before pictures, just think of a yellowish brown 70's colored wood.  It was actually way uglier than the top color that has been sanded down here.  But I put back the seat so you could see the lovely color it was before.  It almost matches my blog...hmmm, note to self maybe change blog design.

It was a pretty easy project.  First I unscrewed the seat and put it aside.  Then, I just sanded down the top because I knew I wanted to stain it.  Taped it off.  I cleaned it with a baby wipe because I was out of tack cloths (ideal).  Got out my HVLP Graco paint sprayer which you can find at your local Lowes.  Although this project could have easily been done with a plain old paint brush.  I painted it with a $5 a gallon oops paint which has actually become quite handy for me because it is a white premium paint and primer combo.  Just takes out a step for me.  Loving that!

A sprayed with 2 coats of white. I distressed it lightly with my electric sander because its quick, but you can use a sanding block.  I like the 3M medium 100 grit.  I then chose my stain for the top.  I went with Minwax Rosewood.  Again clean off with a tack cloth before you stain.  I find applying stain with a foam brush works best.  You can really control where it goes.  Always have a rag nearby for wiping.  I let it dry for about 24 hours before sealing it. 

Then put a seal on the whole thing.  Sometimes I spray on poly, not this time.  I stained the top so I chose a wipe on poly for that and then I used a water based poly for the top.  Anything painted white should be sealed with a water based poly.  Otherwise it might yellow.  I prefer Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic.  The blue can :)  I painted on two coats. The top with the wipe on, three coats.

Let it dry, read the can but usually a few hours, longer before it is actually used.  I then recovered the seat with a damask gold upholstery fabric.  I am not in love with the fabric, I think I might change it to a light aqua.  But this is it for now.  When re-covering something a good rule of thumb is to take off the existing fabric, in my case, pleather and trace the new fabric with the same pattern.  I was lazy and just eyeballed it.  But it turned out pretty good, don't cha think?

I changed the seat fabric, I just wasn't feeling the
gold damask with the cherry top. Cuter now!

Featured on: