Chevron Side Table

I've been in love with chevron patterns on furniture for awhile now, but too nervous to try. I got a set of side tables at an auction recently and decided to try it out. I'll do my best to lay down how I did it step by step in case any of you out there are brave enough to try it as well! :)

I'll start by saying this project probably would've turned out better by rolling on latex paint and not using spray paint, but I had the spray laying around in the colors I want.

Here's a before shot: (well, not technically as this is the other table which you will shortly see is a hexagon shape and not square like the other one, but you get the idea)

I really like the rope detailing on these. I wanted to do the rope detail white and alternate with the blue. (Of course I would pick colors to make for a lot of tape work!) The first thing I did is tape over all the sides I wanted to be blue (which I forgot to take a picture of) and painted the white base on the top.

Then I tried to cut out a chevron pattern with my cricut on freezer paper to use as a stencil. Total fail. But I did get a small chunk of it to work and just traced it on my top:

Until I had this:

Then I started taping the pattern:

After I had everything taped, I sprayed over it with my blue (Krylon Oxford Blue). I let it dry a minute and peeled the tape to reveal this:

Not too bad. Way better than I hoped for sure! If you go around and measure the lines, they are crooked, uneven and not at all the same size. But, I'm not worried about perfection.

I was going to paint the base white, but I decided I liked the blue better. (I mean is it just me, or should this blue really be called Tardis blue?) So I painted the bottom, distressed it and rubbed a super light coat of poly + stain (Minwax Polyshades in American Oak) over it to seal everything.

Here's the final results:

Some details:

A tip to note on this one: I just barely sanded the bottom before spray painting. Just a quick rub with a sanding block to make it a little rough. The result of this is when I used the sanding pad to distress the paint, the original finish showed through quite nicely. If you were not distressing the piece, more sanding before painting would be required to make sure the paint adheres without flaking or peeling down the road.

What do you think? I love the chevron and I think I need to do more pieces that way (but not the sister table to this one. I think chevron on a hexagon is my limit!).

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

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