A place to put your drink...and rest your legs and hide the remotes

Since I have been married, we have only owned one coffee table, it was during our first year of marriage in a nice, open townhouse with plenty of living space. It was a hand-me-down, all glass oval table straight out of the early 90's complete with tacky brass accents which suited it's purpose for the time that we owned it. We moved into our first home where our living space became much smaller...I mean, we probably COULD have found a small enough coffee table to fit the space but then we had our daughter and being brand new parents we feared the sharp corners and glass. So fast forward 6 years later and I was on the hunt for a coffee table. I was originally wanting a large wooden trunk of some sort, but the prices on that were pretty outrageous brand new and used was hard to find. I faithfully searched the local online classifieds and came across this guy.

I loved the shape and the fact that it had the drawers for storage...we have been CONSTANTLY losing our remotes (we have 4 of them) and I was slightly fed up with it. This was in great shape, "distressed" by the manufacturer, and a few little nicks here and there which I think added to the look. Those little white circles you see in the picture are "painted" white which lead me to believe that it had been painted white before and restored to its original finish but they got lazy in removing the paint in the crevices. I wanted to re-finish this in white so I did my research on how to get this done as quickly as possible and with as little experience or tools as possible because professionally sanding, priming, and painting multiple coats and watching paint dry; "ain't nobody got time for that!"

 Enter in this perfect product: Rust-Oleum Universal Satin Paint and Primer in white. I read rave reviews about this being the ultimate spray paint for the impatient like myself. It was said that this would cover anything without sanding and leave a smooth, even finish.

 This was after the first coat. I removed all the drawers and painted them separate. Like any spray paint, I had to constantly shake this especially since the primer built in could clog the sprayer if you wait too long between sprays. I tried to work as quickly as possible with long, even strokes making sure i got into the little crevices as well.

 Aaaaannnnddd.. TA-DA!!! Here it is 2 cans later and about 3 hours of drying. I suppose you should wait longer for it to dry but it was a breezy day and it dried pretty quick and like I said before..I'm more of an "instant gratification" kind of girl. The finish was a bit gritty feeling and not smooth like a glossy finish would be but I don't mind.

I am SO happy with it! I was considering doing a "distress paint" technique to make it appear more "shabby chic" but I think it looks great without it. I love having the extra storage and it fits perfect in our living space.

Supplies I used:
Coffee table (found online classifieds) -$25
2 cans of Rust-Oleum Universal Satin Paint and Primer spray paint - $6.70 each (Home Depot)

TOTAL COST of this project- about $38 bucks :)