The House Always Wins: Child's Play

When thinking about what to get my niece for her for her 1st birthday, no ordinary gift would do... I think I was still high from the paint fumes of my last painting project and decided that I would handcraft and paint a kiddie table for her.

I mean, how hard could it be? Famous. Last. Words.

It started simply enough and I found an unfinished table through Amazon.com:

I was not only excited about the fact that I could make a special one-of-a-kind gift, but was already patting myself on the back for saving hundreds of dollars after researching how much it would cost to have someone else make a custom table for me (btw, I'm thinking about quitting my job to become a kids' table painter because they make more than I do).

But once I opened that box, it took nearly 6 weeks to finish the table, which included putting the darn thing together followed by some trial and error designing... there were some highs, followed by some lows, but it ended with the best high of all... a happy niece!

So check out the process and the end result:

First - put together table and chairs...make sure you buy something that is UNFINISHED so you don't have to strip stain...

Then paint everything the lightest of the colors you chose - I went with a lime and raspberry, which are my niece's nursery colors. You want the base to be the lightest color because your darker colors will go over it easily versus the other way around. And because I used unfinished wood, I had to do three coats of the base color before it would cover up the wood grain. And here's another tip: instead of using a soft, standard paint roller brush, opt for a sponge roller so the paint goes on smoothly.

I then started taping off the design with blue painters tape... there was no rhyme or reason to the design... I just went with the flow and once I had taped everything, I painted over the entire top with my darkest color.

Then I pulled the tape and this is what I got... and quick tip, I taped the freshly painted table way too fast... I was anxious and let the green paint dry only for 24 hours when I should have realistically waited a week before putting on the blue tape to make sure I got a crisp line. Unfortunately, the pink paint bled a bit (you can't see it in the picture) so this is when panic set in...

To remedy how messy the pink sections looked since they bled into the green, I took some white paint and hand painted around each pink part... I have the shakiest hands in the world, so the lines weren't 100% straight, but it gave it a hand crafted, kid-like look while hiding the imperfections of the tape job.

I used modge podge to seal the top of the table and make it water resistant. I also bought some cute wooden heart cut-outs from Michaels (which were already painted and treated) that I glued in the center for some detail. And I used super glue that is made for painted wood - those puppies aren't going anywhere.

For the chairs, I put my niece's name on one and denoted one chair for a "pal." I created the letters by modge podging sticker letters - WAY easier than hand painting the letters and it looks so much cleaner. So I stuck the stickers on the chairs and then painted over them with the clear modge podge so my niece can't pull them off.