Paint it Black

I bought this little hall table for $30 off Craigslist about 18 months ago...

I fell for the cute little feet. I'm a sucker for furniture with feet.

It had a nice inlaid detail on the tabletop, but I was never 100% happy with the tone of the wood. I knew I wanted to paint it, but I couldn't decide on a color. The wall behind it was white, so white seemed boring... The mirror above it was bright, so a funky color seemed contrived and a bit spastic... And the chair that sat next it was black, so G thought it would be too much black...

So it stayed a nice, boring, predictable honey color.

Then I moved and it was no longer sitting against a white wall or under a bright blue mirror, and it no longer mattered what G thought... Liberating.

So I decided to paint it black.

Eventually the wall behind it will be Glidden's Berries and Cream, not quite as bright as the swatch you can see to the left, above the unicorn.

I decided to leave the original hardware, since it coordinates well with the hardware on the built-in's in the dining room (doorway to the left).

I love the way the black makes the details pop!

And since I am lazy and it has been 100 degrees in Saint Louis for weeks now, I decided to take the easy way out and spray paint it!

First I collected all my supplies and removed the drawers.

I used a can of Zinsser CoverStain primer and two cans of Rustoleum's Painter's Touch Ultra-Cover 2x in Semi-Gloss Black. I finished it off with Minwax Polycrylic in Semi-Gloss.

I taped off the body of the drawers and just sprayed the fronts and sides. Two coats of Cover Stain, sanding between.

Then two coats of black, again sanding between coats(with moistened water-proof 330 grit sandpaper).

Then I flipped the body and painted the feet, so I could be sure to get along the bottoms without having flip it over at the end and potentially mar the just finished top.

I did not sand it before I started, but I did wipe it down with Method All-Purpose Cleaner to make sure it was free of dust and grime.

Two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and two coats of poly. Simple, fairly quick (about two hours actual hands-on time), and inexpensive (all I had to buy was two cans of black spray paint, had the rest).

I love the way it turned out and I am so much happier with the piece now.

Have you painted anything recently? What do you think? Was black the right choice? This guy is the first thing I've painted black, but I liked him so much, he's not going to be the last... Stay tuned.