Coffee Table and Desk Makeover and a friends giveaway!

Hello there and happy Tuesday. Only 4 more days until half price day at Goodwill. I am so excited...I'm sure you are too :)
I wanted to show y'all how i painted the Coffee Table and Desk. I did the same technique on both so i'll here is what i did.
Step 1.
Sand- I used a belt sander, cause that's all we had and just did a light sand over the whole piece.

Step 2
Prime-I used Zinsser Stain cover primer. It is good for multiple surfaces since the desk is veneer, the coffee and sewing table are wood and i think the vanity is wood as well i thought it was best to get one primer that would do the job for all my projects. The other reason i picked the stain cover is because i have been working on these crates i made. I haven't posted about htem yet because i'm not 100% in love with them yet. I started with a stain and tried to paint over it. DON'T DO THIS. You can't paint over stain it make it look funny. So i bought a primer that covers stain so i could repaint them. Hopefully i will be back with a Crate post soon.

Step3
Paint-After the primer dried i used a roller brush to paint (the top of the coffee table and the entire desk). I did 2 coats.

Step 4
Stain- Since the hubs stains/paints houses he comes home with extra stain so i use it on my projects. The stain just deepens the color and give it a protective layer. I did this on my blue table as well.You can find that post here. When i stained it i just brushed a layer of stain on the surface (for example the side of the table, if you are doing a large surface break it into sections) the wipe it off with a old towel. For the desk i used a light golden stain. I did a test with the dark stain (that i used for the coffee table) and even when i wiped it off it made the desk way too dark. Since i painted the coffee table brown i used a dark stain on it.
We eat, play cards, do crafts, etc at our coffee table so the stain really helps protect the wood.

This is what it should look like when you brush the stain on.

This is what it looks like when you wipe it off. 

     It's a little bit hard to tell but it shouldn't change the color too much just deepen in a little.

     You can stain over paint but you cannot paint over stain...I wish i had a cute little saying to go with this but i can't think of one, if you do let me know :)
     If you are wanting to paint a piece of furniture i would recommend going to the oops paint section of your Home Depot, Lowes, or Walmart. They have great prices and some really good colors!


Here is the project breakdown:
Desk-$25
Primer-$18 (i used it on both projects and didn't even make a dent!)
Paint-Left over from Guest Room (Wall Color)
Stain-Left over from a house the hubs stained
I kept the same knobs, and didn't even paint them. Usually i will spray paint them but it has been so cold outside lately and especially metal you can't paint in the cold so for now they are staying the way they are...
Total to makeover the Desk=$43

Before

After

Coffee Table-Had in the garage
Primer-from desk project
Paint-oops paint $2.50
Stain-Left over from a house the hubs stained
Total to makeover the Coffee Table=$2.50

Before

After

So there you have it, if you have any questions about painting furniture let me know, i'm no expert i've just learned through trial and error. But i'd be happy to help you out as best i can!


Also, Joon over at The Adventures of Ordy and Joon is doing a giveaway of her favorite things. And let me tell you she's got some really good favorite things! She blogs about everything from home decor to fashion to baking and how to make yourself pretty :)  Check out her adorable blog and don't forget to become a follower and enter her giveaway!