Painted Therapy: From piano bench to coffee table

Sunday, September 28, 2014

From piano bench to coffee table

This happened.

I made it for our living room from these fabulous plans on Ana-White's website. Note to self: do not use coffee table as a train. Second note to self: never put wheels on tables; kids will always use them as trains. Kids and adults, that is. ;)

In her glory days

Anyway, we needed a new coffee table and in a hurry. We had guests staying at the house the following week and they needed some place to drop their refreshments. Since I had to move fast, I used what I had sitting in my garage. And here she is.

Yup, a piano bench. And one in very sad shape at that. This was left in the house when we bought it and I held on to it for some reason, and now it's going to make itself useful. From a wallflower piano bench to a showcase in our living room.

We wanted a smaller table for the space, so the footprint of this piece was perfect. I just cut the legs down to size and added a bit longer and wider top to fit our needs. I even kept the door that hinged open so we utilize that storage. I didn't want to mess with making a new hinged top, so I decided to just build the new top on the old.

First I covered the yellow paint with brown paint/primer, added Vaseline to the edges and other parts of the body, painted with black paint, then lightly sanded. Where I applied the Vaseline, the paint just fell off. That achieved my shabby look. But I also wanted it to be rustic, so I went for the 5/4th inch wood at the lumber yard for the new top and shelf. It gave it a beefy feel. I used Minwax Provencial stain in a few coats and also lightly dry brushed on some black paint, before sealing it with coats of polyurethane.

I had almost finished when I remembered to add the shelf for the bottom. I am all about getting the most storage you can get, so it seemed wasteful to not use it. :)

I love the way she came together in just a few short days. It really doesn't take a whole lot to completely transform a piece. It's just perfect for our room. But I will miss our train rides . . .

Have a great day,

Debbie