DIY: Two-Tone Coffee Table

I will admit, going the two-tone route was not part of my original plan for the $10 coffee table. But I like it!

I don't have any pictures of it in the room yet because it needed every second of our warm weather to dry in the garage, and it still needs to fully cure before we use it.

However, I can tell you what I did to fix it up! First things first, here's where I started:

Wait, wait. Let me go in for a closeup.

The pictures on the eBay listing didn't look this bad and I remember being all, "Why is this only $10?!" And then I got to the seller's house and was like, "Oh, yes. The chunks of missing wood. Gotcha." The first thing I did was sand it, and I was hoping some of the scratches would come up in the process, but no dice. So I sanded enough to rough up the surface and had to think of the best way to fill those gouges.

Enter, the plaster pencil! It's basically a giant white crayon and works just like one. I rubbed it around to fill in the cracks and then sanded off the excess. Just for giggles, here's how it looked before I started painting:

Aaaaand that's why I ended up painting instead of staining. I used Rustoleum Universal for the spray variety (built-in primer!) and leftover gray bathroom paint for the top, which was Olympic no-VOC in a semi-gloss. The gray was kind of a whim because we still have SO much of that gallon left and I don't know what else to do with it.

After a few coats of both, I have a pretty new table! Or, I will once it's dry and ready to use. See that paint cover on the floor next to it? That's the color the tabletop will be when it's dry.

So there you go. My $10 coffee table got a makeover and now she's fit for company. Have you re-worked any furniture lately? Or had a project that threw you a curveball? What's the best deal you've scored on eBay/Craigslist?

Linking up at My Repurposed Life.