Before and after: coffee table

Exhibit one: a coffee table which needs some serious work.

I bought a printer's tray at a now-defunct antique shop in Clapham, London, and asked a carpenter to source some distressed wood to make a table around it. I had this made around seven years ago.

My taste changed over time, and I didn't really like the wood - I have a particular aversion to pine. I have recently had dark wooden floors laid, and so I decided to paint the coffee table dark grey to co-ordinate with the floor. At some point I might get this remade in a darker wood, and the table made larger, but painting it seemed like a good plan for now. This was my first ever furniture renovation project.

I never got around to having glass cut for the top of the table, and consequently all kinds of things spilled on the letters over time.

Can you spot my name in here? We managed to spell out the names or initials of all of my immediate family within the tray.

The wood had to be waxed to keep it looking good, which I never got around to very often, hence the number of ring stains from cups.

I taped it up with masking tape, sanded it down and painted a wood undercoat on the wood.

Then, I realised that using paint, rather than a stain or wax, shows up every imperfection.

So, then I went a bit crazy going over every little ridge, sanding them back again, filling them and basically starting all over again...

I have never used wood filler before, so I got a little carried away and used much more than I needed to. There were a lot of holes to fill in.


I then painted it with two coats of eggshell, cleaned all the letters with Fairy liquid and water, and white spirit. I finally got around to getting some toughened glass cut for the top.



I'm very pleased with the result.