Three Shades of Gray

This is the story of a coffee table in three shades of gray.



This curvy girl was a Goodwill find from over the winter. It was quite the chilly day when I took her outside for her before shots and an overall light sanding.

She started out super glossy and covered in scratches.

I knew from the moment I saw her that she was meant to be a pretty French gray.

The first step was to give her two coats of Sherwin Williams Gray Screen, a soft light gray.

Then I followed up with a light distressing.

She was already looking so much better, but I wanted to add some depth and dimension. And this where my favorite glaze came into the picture. This is absolutely the hardest working, most versatile product in my garage. You've heard it before, I just love Valspar's Clear Mixing Glaze. You can add any color to it and make your own custom glaze. It is so easy to work with and gives a lovely smooth finish. It even comes in a handy pourable bottle. I often add white paint for a soft pretty look, like on my Deep French Gray pieces or my Reflecting Pool nightstand. But on this project, it was all about shades of gray.

So first up, I added a bit of Network Gray to the glaze. This was two shades darker than the original color. And it's the same gray I used on Ryan's dresser and nightstand and one of my favorite colors.

I brushed the glaze over the entire piece with a sponge brush and wiped it down with a soft cloth.

After that was dry, I added an even darker shade of gray to the mix, Software. It's a really deep dark shade of gray.

This time I just glazed around the curvy edges of the table and the details on the legs.

Then I finished her off with a good coat of wax. Yes, that's another favorite product, Minwax Paste Finishing Wax. It was still pretty cold outside, so this step happened in my foyer.

And after three shades of gray, she was complete!

You really need to see her up-close to appreciate the difference three shades of gray make.

I think she looks and feels so much better now!

**I'm participating in the Cottage Charm Giveaway Event! You can enter to win one of my Burlap and Ruffles table runners and lots of other great giveaways! Be sure to check it out here!

***But first, a quick question (cry for help!) for those of you using Blogger. I am having a huge spacing issue. Every time I edit a post in any way, such as adding a button to link to a party, the entire post stretches out with huge spaces between the photos and the lines of text and I have to re-edit the entire post. It's driving my crazy! Is anyone else having this problem? Any solutions? ... Thanks so much!

I'm linking to...

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Blue Cricket Design