Monthly Archives: October 2012

I have a dining room table that I received for free. It was very scuffed and stained so I always used it with a table cloth.  Recently I painted it a cream color.

This is what it looked like before.

I used Zinsser primer (~$10/quart) because the back of the can said it was suitable for glossy surfaces.

I used Rustoleum Painter’s Touch (~$9/quart) as the surface paint because there was a picture of furniture on the front of the can, and figured it was okay for furniture. I put in a few squirts of mustard-colored craft paint to make the paint more cream-colored. Yes, you can mix latex and acrylic paint!

I used only about half of each can so there’s enough for another project.

Originally I was going to use a stencil to make damask patterns on the table but then decided it was rather busy-looking. Instead I painted some little gingko leaves using green paint I already had on hand.

I also spent about $10 on a pack of painting tools from Home Depot and $4 for a sanding sponge that I barely used.

It was a few hours of work but much cheaper than buying a new table!

It’s October so I can officially decorate for fall. I removed the plants from my kitchen window and replaced them with a pumpkin coach display.

The metal pumpkin was purchased from Collections Etc. and the fake grapes and grape leaves are from the local dollar store. Everything else is real. Inside the coach are 7 gourds from Target and several items from my yard (1 bumpy squash, 2 pomegranates, some berries and flowers from an unknown bush).

I like that the wheels have a mottled black and orange color.