between this post and our previous post on virginia’s telephone table, i am so in the market for one of these tables to fix up and use in my entryway. this makeover comes from d*s reader elizabeth of quest twenty eight. elizabeth lives on top of a mountain in south wales and bought this telephone table for around $28 at a local flea shop. she decided to give it new life with a new coat of paint and lovely new fabric. the results are so fresh and clean- perfect! click here for more details on elizabeth’s project. thanks, elizabeth!
[the curiosity shoppe crew are under the weather today (feel better soon!) so diy wednesdays will run tomorrow, on thursday afternoon]
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The color they chose for this is perfect! It makes it so cute.
I love the fabric she used for the cushion. I’d never heard of a telephone table until just now, but they look like they’d be perfect for an entryway or a wide hallway. Lovely before and after!
What a gorgeous revamp! I have lately been acquiring a few new pieces of furniture in need of some TLC, and this is great inspiration for the pieces I need to redo! Bravo!
Love that periwinkle colour!
I will definitely be doing this project before the end of the year!
Oh I love the modern version!! This is great!
Perfect!!! I love the color and fabric. I have GOT to find one of those!
amazing results! very cute!! :)
WOW! love the blue paint. good one!
FABULOUS!
What a wonderful make over!!
Whoa, that is really great! She is genious!
Oh my! What an amazing transformation. I love the fabric. :)
oh my goodness, i love this. i want one too!
Spectacular! I want it.
wow, that took vision and courage to go all blue, and it turned out great!
What an adorable transformation! The piece went from doudy and dreary to happy and contemporary. I love the little bird too :)
What a gorgeous color!! I love it!
too cute!
That little cubby is perfect for books! I need to find one of these.
i agree with tom dont like it all i think it was more beautifull before the painting
LOL – I LOVE the before…. LOL It’s so quaint… but the After is refreshing… Nice job!
definitely one of the best B & As so far.
The perfect shade of periwinkle and love the fabric! So cute!
The blue color is spot on!
WOWwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!
amazing before and after! what a great job!
I love this! Although I think the blue would stand out so much better against a non-blue wall…
buy an antique phone
although i am an antique purist and love the leather top and cushion fabric of the original…she did wonderful job with the new version. great color.
It’s fantastic. That said, the drawer pull is mounted upside down now. Do you think that was intentional?
I love the blue color, but I’m curious about what she did with the inlay on the top. Seems like it’d be a shame (and possibly not look perfectly flat under the paint) if it were just covered up.
I’m always hesitant to paint over wood, but this gives me the courage to take the plunge- It went from “stuffy old maid” to “young, fresh and hip” with some new paint and fabric. Love it!
gorgeous.
How does one make the glossy paint that smooth and lovely? I’ve been struggling with this myself…is it sprayed on? rollered? paint brush? I am confounded..! My furniture painting always ends up with lots of texture.
Lovely! I think my Aunt Julia had one of these (in the before picture)… :)
Hello Miss Grace! Well, I just happen to have a telephone table for sale! The chair is hinged to the table so it swings closed into a neat little bundle, for small urban spaces…let me know if you’d like me to send photos.
Do you paint over the stain, or do you treat it first? Sand?
By the way… it looks great!
love love love it! my mother in law has a table like this…i should ask her if i can revamp it for her… hm..
i absolutely loved this table upon seeing its before and after post. My jaw certainly hung open when, the day after reading it, my best friend and i stumbled upon a similar table in our local habit for humanity ReStore. We sanded and primed tonight, I can’t wait to see how ours comes out!
I love that blue! And the paint job is wonderful (echoing comments of others)… could we have a DIY on this exact project? Please????
lauren
i’d be happy to walk you through the steps via email, it’s not too tough.
it involves:
-sanding
-painting
-installing new hardware
-staple gunning new fabric on
first, pre-project, remove the seat from the chair and remove the hardware.
the first step to a project like this is to sand, sand sand. you have to remove the glossy finish of the previous stain or treatment very well.
after thorough sanding and wiping down of the table the piece is ready to paint.
for painting, it’s best to use many (ie: 3-4) thin coats of paint versus one or two thick/gloppy ones. this is ALWAYS the problem people have when refinishing furniture like this. so pick up your favorite color paint, a nice brush and go over the piece several times with a thin layer of paint. be sure to allow plenty (ie: several hours) of time between coats to assure no bunching of paint, sticks, or ripples.
when the final coat of paint has dried, finish with a coat or two of sealant. i prefer a poly finish, but you can use a clear varnish or something similar to a lacquer if you can find it. real lacquering should be done by the pros but you can get a similar effect with clear poly from the hardware store.
once that is dry you can install whatever hardware you like- a knew hook, knob or a hanging hook like elizabeth has.
then you need to tackle the seat, which is an easy-peasy staple job.
get a decent staple gun at a craft or hardware store and use it to secure the new fabric over the old fabric. if you prefer to remove the old fabric first you can do that, if it makes for an uneven surface.
simply flip the cushion upside down and slide your fabric under and pull it taut onto the back. staple gun it into place and cut excess off the bottom.
a nice finishing step is to cut a square of fabric about 2 inches shorter all around than the shape of the seat bottom and then staple that over what you just did on the bottom. that way when you flip it over and install, you won’t see little threads or loose ends hanging.
flip the cushion right side up, place back in the piece and voila- new telephone table!
grace
Where is the fabric from? I was just wondering because it looks like Marimekko’s Unikko (Poppy) fabric.
http://www.marimekko.com/ENG/interior/fabric/maijaisola/unikko/frontpage.htm
Thank you all very much for your kind comments! I’ve been working away from home (and a PC) for a few days and only just had a chance to check back. (What a great welcome home!)
Grace’s description above is spot on. This is the first furniture makeover I tried, and I assure you that if I can do it, so can you! (Especially if you follow the above pointers).
I used satinwood paint, rather than gloss, which is much easier to manipulate, and still gives a rich shiny finish. (You will need several coats to create a durable finish though – the top surface has about 8 coats, the rest has 5).
Jenny, thanks for pointing out that the drawer pull is upside down – i hadn’t noticed. Oops :)
Thank you all again!
Riikka, The fabric is by ‘Prestigious Textiles” (www.prestigioustextiles.co.uk), the design is ‘Flopsy’ (from the Creature Comforts Collection which is actually their children’s collection from 2007) and is available on ebay.co.uk.
First could have stood out better with some contrast color, either the table or the background. Second, there are so little old pieces left and it breaks my heart when the get transformed out of their true state. It could have simply used a refinish and maybe the cloth pattern could have been in a more classic style.
such a shame. However, the paint job had it been applied on a different piece would have been nicely done.
i like it in its original form much better! the wood would have been so beautiful with a good scuff and clear coat. o well.
Why don’t people appreciate wood anymore. This piece was beautiful BEFORE. All it need was to be sanded and a light coat of stain. The blue is awful and what is so great about painting a beautiful piece of wood?
PDisco
painting wood is always controversial on d*s. it’s an ongoing battle that people never seem to tire of having. but it’s good to remember that people have different ideas about what’s good and bad, and while you may find this piece “awful”, the owner clearly loves it and has given it a new life. sometimes painting wood means that a piece headed for the dumpster gets a new life- and that’s pretty great.
grace
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