Sunday, May 1, 2011

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...



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35 comments:

The Frosted Gardner said...

I am having that same problem and it is driving me crazy too! I don't have time to sit and edit all of the additional spacing it is throwing in on its own. Please let me know if you come up with a remedy!

I want this coffee table. I am actually looking for one and I think that it needs to be gray just like this one. Layered gray. Three grays. This is just beautiful Sharon!

Kim @ A Brush of Whimsy said...

Good gracious, it looks beautiful! Love it!

When you use the wax, do you have to buff till your arms fall off to get an even sheen? On my last pieces, I waxed just the tops, and it literally took my hours to buff out all the lines from the wax!!! :( Am I doing something wrong?

Have a lovely Sunday!!!

d e l i g h t said...

What a transformation! The table has nice curves to start with, but painted gray is just beautiful. Thanks for such great step by step instructions.
Linda

Korrie@RedHenHome said...

Absolutely lovely! The three shades give it beautiful depth.

Rachel @the house redeemed said...

How beautiful! I never get tired of seeing paint change a piece of furniture.

Cassie Bustamante said...

beautiful!!! gray was the perfect choice and i love the layered look.

foreverdecorating said...

So very pretty now!

One Cheap B*tch said...

I love that you chose gray! I have to admit, I always reach for white to shabby something up and it's quite refreshing to see gray! Well done!

Jeanine

Carrie @ Dittle Dattle said...

What a difference the three shades make!! I would have never thought to added the two extra glazing colors! Amazing!

Amy Chalmers said...

I agree with the person who said it is refreshing in grey. I love the french lines of the table and it would look right at home in my house! Nice job. And no, I have not had that blogger issue, luckily!! good luck and keep asking around!

Meg @ Never a Dull Day said...

Those are some of my favorite SW shades of gray!! Love them layered together on your coffee table! Looks great!

http://megschmitt-neveradullday.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

A lovely transformation, love the color "gray"!
Beautiful!

Hugs
Charo

~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ said...

Great looking table. Nice work on her.

Karen said...

So pretty. I'll bet it has real depth in person. I'm going to give that Valspar a try. Wish me luck!

~Iffy~ @ StayAtHomeNation said...

I am falling in love with grey, and love what you did with this table! I am going to try glaze but I had no idea you could tint it a little at a time to personalize the glaze. How awesome! That way you can glaze different pieces, different colors. Awesome! Stopping by from Twice Owned Tuesday
Thanks
~Iffy~
www.stayathomenation.blogspot.com

Sherry Hicks said...

She is beautiful now, rescued revived! Love the three shades of grey
Sherry

Deborah March said...

STUNNING results! Thanks so much for sharing the products and colours you used!

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Beautiful, Sharon! Well worth the time and effort you put into it. Love the gray! It makes for a nice change from seeing black and white pieces.

Ladybird Ln said...

Looks great, love the color(s)! I love it when I find great good-will finds! Found you at a little birdie told me!

www.ladybirdln.com

Janis@HomeStyle said...

It's beautiful, I'm a HUGE fan of anything grey (actually doing something very similar as a bench at the foot of my bed). Great job.

Decor & Harmony said...

I love the grey! She looks very chic:)

Erin said...

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your favorite products. I have a goodwill piece that I'm nervously awaiting the inspiration to refinish. Love the gray!

Kristin @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia said...

I love it, so pretty!
XO

Vintagesouthernlife said...

Love the way you used the three shades of gray to achieve perfection.
I am having the same problem with Blogger.I hit preview, edit and then publish. The published post is different from the way it looks in preview... it even puts spaces in the sentences.
Hopefully someone will tell us how to correct this.

Arabella said...

The coffee table turned out beautifully - the 3 grays sure created a warm and lovely finish! Happy Wow Us Wednesday :O)

Blondie's Journal said...

You really put a lot of time and effort into this table and it shows...it's just beautiful! I love the shades of gray and the distressing. Very well done:-)

XO,
Jane

Savannah Granny said...

Elizabeth, You have done a beautiful job. It is truly a Cinderella table. Thanks for the glazing information. I am painting the frame for a bathroom mirror surround. I was wanting to go to the gray over the Martha Stewart's tin metallic but I wasn't sure which colors to use. I am going to the bank with your color choices. Hopefully I can post it soon. I am following Youl Thanks for sharing. Ginger :)

Savannah Granny said...

Elizabeth, I forgot to say that I was having trouble with blogger creating huge spaces between segments of my post. I finally figured out my case had something to copy and paste items. I was having the problem even with copy and paste text. Now for my party links, I no longer use the buttons but type each individual link separately. I tried listing the links on a separate blog page but had the same problem when I would copy the link and try to paste on new post. Since I have been typing them individually the only problem I had was not making sure to check the size of the font for each link. When I went back and tried to change a large size to normal I was left with a big space above and below that link.
Hope this is of some help. Ginger

Miss Char said...

She looks very regal in all her grays. Thanks so much for sharing and adding your tutorial.

very merry vintage style said...

So beautiful! Love the legs on that beauty... the shades of gray turned out really nice. Thanks for linking to my Share the Love link party!
Mary

Marianne said...

Just beautiful...and I love the grey that you used. You did a great job!
Marianne :)

Alyssa - Live. Love. Craft. said...

I love it! I'd love to do stuff like this but we have no where in our house to put it :( I have the same problem with blogger, so let me know what you find out please! :D

Karen said...

Beautiful, just beautiful did I mention its beautiful?!!

Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage said...

This turned out so lovely, Sharon! I like layering paint and glazes myself. It's the perfect way to give depth to a piece.

Blessings,
Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Jenn Erickson said...

Sharon, another absolutely gorgeous piece!

I love layering of the shades of gray and the way that I always learn new techniques from your posts!


Thank you for sharing your talent on "A Little Birdie Told Me..." Tuesday at Rook No. 17!

Jenn