dipped table legs

Welcome back! I am so excited to be back in blogland and thrilled to show you some new features on my lovely site! First, I have incorporated some social media buttons underneath my profile photo -> -> that make access to my Facebook page, Etsy shop, and even following me on Pinterest a breeze! My personal favorite is the new email button! With just a click on the little envelope you can easily contact me about anything you see here on my site!

Today I want to share with you my latest and most favorite DIY project! "Dipped" furniture is all the rage right now! It's so fun and gives even the most blah piece of furniture a fun pop of color (my husband swears this is my favorite phrase). I've seen so many neat things to "dip" in Pinterest-land and decided to tackle it myself. I'm going to show you how to do this project for yourself for under $10, during naptime. Naptime is the best.

So I turned on my favorite jams and with my little assistant at hand, we got started. Here is what my console table looked like BEFORE:

I bought this table at Target a few years ago because I needed some extra storage and a place for my sewing machine to rest in our guest room. I liked the character of the table but was never really crazy about the drawer pulls, so those were the first to come off. All I had to do was remove them with a screwdriver which was easy-peasy.

The next step, though it looks complicated, went surprisingly fast and the results were stunning.
Since the new drawer pulls were larger, I couldn't use the same drill holes from the original pulls. All I had to do was use a piece of blue painter's tape (masking tape works, too, but I love the smoothness of painter's tape). I centered it vertically - mostly by eyeing it - but then I also checked with my measuring tape to make sure it was exactly in the middle. Some things I'm not so precise about, but this is definitely not one area to mess around with.

Then, on the blue tape, I made a cross denoting the exact middle of the drawer, both vertically and horizontally. You can even see the previous holes through the tape that confirmed I was right where I needed to be.

Next I had to measure the distance between the holes on my new pulls, divide by two, and then take that distance out from either side of the cross I made. The holes on my handles were 2.5" apart, so I made a mark 1.25" out on each side of the center of the drawer. Simple, yes?

Once I had marked the spots, I double checked my measurements by holding up the handles just to make sure I had the marking where they needed to be.

All that was left was to drill some pilot holes and screw the handles into the drawers. Lucky me, my husband owns an adorable mini-sized drill that is PERFECT for my little household projects. It's super lightweight, and I want to steal it and paint it Tiffany blue. I digress...

What you need to know about drilling through painter's tape is that it makes the front of the holes so, so clean. If the drill bit is going to strip off anything, it will be the tape and not the surface of your furniture. It also makes cleaning up a breeze.

Of course I could have taken the time to patch up the original holes, and certain handles would require me to, but they would be hidden under my new pulls and they were pretty smooth so NBD. Now that my holes were drilled, I just screwed in the handles, and voila!

Quite a difference, wouldn't you say?

NOW for the fun part - painting!! I'm a bit obsessed with melon/coral color (always have been, the fads just follow me). I was in search of the perfect color at Lowe's but unfortunately couldn't find it. I found two colors that were close - one was too pink and one too orange - but I needed something in between. So I bought little sample sized jars of each (less than $3) and just mixed them. What I wound up with was indeed the "perfect coral" I had been looking for all along. Anytime you need a unique paint color for a small project definitely go for the sample sizes.

Ok, so the colors on the screen don't do the real thing justice, so just use your imagination. 

This part is super easy, guys. I measured up from the bottoms of the legs the space I wanted (I chose 7 inches) to be painted. I wrapped the legs with painter's tape, and gave them a light sanding. If you're trying this, don't kill yourself attempting to get down to bare wood. All you have do to is scuff up the surface to give the paint something to grab onto. I just sanded carefully right up to the tape, then wiped down the dust with a damp cloth.

On came the coral and I think I squealed a little bit. Nothing excites me more than the first brushstroke.

I carefully painted up over the tape on all four legs. It took me about three coats to get a nice, solid color. Why? Because I was painting over probably the darkest surface I could find with a notoriously thin color (anything with red is super "thin"). Let each coat dry fully before beginning the next. Note: for the third coat, I flipped the table upside down and onto its top so I could see it closer/from a different angle, and to make sure I got the very bottom of the legs covered, too.

I didn't let the paint dry completely before removing my tape, because with latex, sometimes it can peel like plastic. I carefully pulled back my tape to reveal beautiful, crisp lines! I'm jumping up and down a bit while hubby rolls his eyes at this point.

Here's the before and after:

It was infinitely more sunny yesterday so that made getting a good "after" photo a little more challenging!

I completed this entire project for about $12 and in about an hour or two. I could have kept it under $10 if I hadn't purchased two different paint colors, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. All I may do after this is paint a thin layer of poly over the paint to keep it from getting nicked too bad, since it's near the floor where little feet and toys with wheels roam freely.

What do you think?? I love it. It gives a plain old table a nice little facelift and a modern twist. Do you have a plain piece of furniture around your house that needs a pop of color?