Bird Table Re-Do

My 7 year old granddaughter always asks me what my favorite animal is… I always answer with ‘dog’. But now, she’s starting asking me what my ‘second’ favorite animal is since she knows ‘dog’ is my ‘first’. I love a lot of animals, elephants are for sure way up at the top of my list, but they don’t live around me, so picking an animal that is influencing my daily life, I think I’d have to say my ‘second’ favorite is a songbird.

I love the security of the promise Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”

So when I decided to paint a wicker side table, that has a wooden round top, I decided that an American Redstart songbird would be the design in the center. Not because it’s my favorite songbird, but because I liked the black and white color of it to coordinate with the rest of the colors on the table.

I’ve had this table for several years. (Probably close to 20 years!) I originally got it from Pier 1 on clearance for around $15. I don’t have any before pics, but the bamboo base was finished in a greenish stain, and the round top was natural brown stain with a green ivy border around the perimeter. It was pretty neutral and served me well for many years, but needed a facelift.

Over the years, this table has been in many different rooms, like the living room, the family room, and the sunroom.

Since I didn’t take pics while I was doing the actual painting on this, I’ll quickly tell you the steps I did:

  1. Spray painted the base… several coats. (That raw wicker really sucks up the paint!)
  2. Primed the entire round top including edge.
  3. Painted entire round top and edge the cream color 2 coats, and let dry.
  4. Using a thumbtack in the center of the top with string attached to it, I made the circles around the tabletop where I wanted the pattern.
  5. Painted the gold and blue circles, 2 coats over the cream… (by having the cream on the whole table top if my gold or blue wasn’t perfect, the cream color underneath would give me the ‘painting grace’ I frequently talk about).
  6. Sketched, then painted the branch and bird.

After everything was dry, I then went back with a ‘paint marker’ and did the black lines, leaf patterns and outlined the bird and branch etc. A paint marker is so much easier to get a smooth line with compared to a paint brush! HERE is my favorite PAINT MARKER for this project.

Then to soften the whole look, I rubbed on some gel stain.

And finally, I finished with a couple coats of water based poly over the top.

This was a really fun project to re-do, and now this piece is refreshed for another 20 years and sports my ‘second favorite animal’ on it!

Here are more of my furniture re-do projects and ideas:

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Comments

  2. Mimi says

    Absolutely love this table. I never thought I’d be able to get such a professional look on a project like this. But your instructions were simple and showed how you achieved the look. Very impressive!

    Reply

  3. Kathy Ransom says

    This table is very special! That was an inspired idea to paint the songbird – I love the colors – top and bottom! Definitely a conversation piece! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

    Reply

  4. Deborah H. Bateman says

    I love this table. Thanks for sharing it. I found your site through Savvy Southern Style. It is one of my favorite sites. If you like recipes you may be interested in checking out my site Recipe for Life at deborah-bateman.blogspot.com
    Have a blessed day,
    Deborah H. Bateman-Author

    Reply

  5. Judy says

    You did an absolutely beautiful job. I will be featuring it tonight at my Sizzle into Summer party that opens at 8pm EST. Please stop by and pick up an I’ve Been Featured button. Thanks.

    Reply

  13. Kimberly says

    This table totally caught my eye out of 125 links that I was browsing. Love it! You’ve got me thinking what old piece could I transform? i did a small table last year as a mosaic with broken dishes, but paint would be something totally different for my home. So creative and well executed.

    Reply

  15. Erika says

    This table is really awesome, is a total piece of art, you have done a great job, I love it, the bird is beautiful, and it looks well handpainted, hand crafted, all done by yourself, very pretty. Congratulations.

    Reply

  16. Donna wilkes says

    First, I love anything with a bird on it. Second, I love all the small details you added to make it extra-special! Came over from Primp.
    Distressed Donna Down Home

    Reply

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