DIY Buffet Table Makeover

We recently purchased a new cabinet for our dining room to add a little more storage to the room, and ever since then our old buffet table has been sitting off to the side, staring at me, begging me to keep it.   

Well, the buffet table won… I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it, so after some rearranging, she now has a new home in our eat-in kitchen.  However, our kitchen consists of espresso cabinets and merlot wood floors (dark on dark), so I just couldn’t bring myself to add yet another dark piece of furniture to the mix. 

So in the words of Cher Horowitz, “Ooooh… PROJECT!”  (Brian will totally not get this reference, because twenty years later he still has not seen this movie.  I know he’s a boy and all, but seriously, shouldn’t everybody want to see Paul Rudd’s silver screen debut?!) 

Anywho, I’m now waaaay off track (#Typical), but yes, it was time for a buffet table makeover.

Ever since I painted a bookcase pink to go in Olivia’s bedroom, I’ve been itching to paint another piece of furniture because I love the extra pop of color that it adds to a space.  I’m really loving aquas and greys right now.  I recently added some aqua-grey and white striped curtains to our living room and we also painted our dining room and sitting room an aqua-grey color a couple of years ago.  Since that seems to be the new color that’s weaving its way through the ground floor of our house, I figured, why not paint the buffet table that color, too!  Plus, I had leftover paint from the dining room, so that made things even easier. 

The first step was to remove the existing knobs and sand the entire table.  I used a very fine sandpaper and lightly sanded the entire thing because I didn’t want to ruin the grain.

After sanding, I wiped the entire table down with a damp cloth, and then I applied one coat of primer that we also had on hand.  I followed the primer with one coat of Valspar paint in Cafe Blue and one coat of Valspar Clear Protector, and boom, the painting was done! 

The original knobs on the cabinet were extremely modern, so I decided to replace those.  I knew I wanted something semi-traditional and not too ornate, so I went with these from Lowe’s. 

My favorite part was, of course, styling the finished piece.  I always shop my own house before I buy anything and I did already have a few things on hand.  I already knew that I wanted to display the plate with our mealtime prayer because it’s been displayed near our table for years.  I already had the wine cork holder... it had been sitting off to the side just waiting to find its permanent home, and I had the succulent in the tin pail that I had purchased from Ikea a few months back on Brian's and my Atlanta Weekend Extravaganza.  I found the cute little tin drink holder at Ross for only $6 and I thought it would be perfect to display the gold stem wine glasses that I made earlier this year.  I added a couple of books and that gorgeous lantern, and I was done!  I love how it turned out, and I also love how it brightened the entire room!

 And now, because everyone loves a good before and after...