This little mid century side table was picked for free from a leftover pile at a garage sale. It’s not a high quality piece which I found out when I really got up close and started working on it. But, its main purpose was to assist me in some videos I wanted to make. So, it did its job 🙂
Nothing really fancy went on here, although that drawer design is cool. It has a Broyhill Brasilia or Kent Coffey Perspecta type look. Plus, that hardware is the nicest thing about the piece. It’s just a sweet mid century side table that was dated (especially with that faux wood grain laminate and plastic drawer front) and needed some paint. Badly.
Prep
I did my normal sanding prep. If you want to see how I paint over laminate you can read that post and watch the video here. I did some sanding, filling with my favorite Bondo glazing putty, and some more sanding to smooth everything out. I wiped everything clean and then primed.
I stuck with my trusty Zinsser Cover Stain primer. I sprayed it on and then used 220 grit sandpaper to sand it smooth once dry. This video shows how to paint over laminate and plastic for a durable, long-lasting finish.
Paint
I’ve been experimenting with different types of paint recently but I went with General Finishes acrylic milk paint for this project. I love this paint. There are very limited colors, but I own pretty much every one so I just started mixing them together until I came up with an interesting color. I wanted something different than I had done, so a teal green was my choice. It did turn out differently than I expected once it was on the piece and sealed, but I just went with it. I used my husky HVLP gun to spray on 2 coast of paint. I then sealed the paint with General Finishes high performance topcoat in satin for a light sheen.
The hardware cleaned up nicely with some Bar Keeper’s friend. I have a video tutorial for polishing brass here. I left some of the patina and only polished the outer parts of the brass for some contrast. Super easy and took me all of 30 seconds 🙂
I really like the color and the cleaned up hardware is perfect. Great job!
The pattern on the front looks just like Broyhill! Very distinctive. Love the colour.
Love that teal! Such a gorgeous makeover.
Thanks so much! It’s fun to think up a color and then get it onto a piece of furniture.
So cute. I don’t think Midcentury was ever a thing in New Zealand, we seem to have skipped that era! I never see anything like that here. Love it though!