Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Vintage Care & Repair: How to Seal Chipping Paint

Yesterday, I was getting ready to post this and my screen went out on my laptop.  I seem to be having endless problems with technology lately.  My camera has been giving me all sorts of trouble and now this.  I have an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar tomorrow and I'm really hoping it's not going to cost a fortune to fix.  I'm at the studio now with my trusty desktop, so let's give this another try.
I wanted to share a little project I did recently.  I purchased this fancy coffee table at the Long Beach Antique Market earlier in the year.  I just love the detail and the distressed look of it.  Unfortunately, flakes of paint have been falling off of it since I brought it home.  I have young children and I didn't know how old this table was, so I didn't really want to take the chance that I was sprinkling my home with a toxic substance (lead).  Not to mention the fact that it's just annoying to have to sweep or vacuum constantly.  So, I devised a simple fix. 
 
I took the table outside and set it on a painting tarp.  Armed with a can of Rust-oleum Matte Clear spray paint paint and a small broom, I stopped the flaking madness.
First I dusted any loose particles off with a hand broom and then coated the whole table with the clear spray paint.  The finish did come out pretty matte, which was fine for the legs and sides, but I think next time I will use a gloss on the top.  One can gave me a single coat on the whole thing.  I would have preferred two coats, so I will probably spray it again in the near future.
The table is now back in our living room, what a huge relief!  We were using Ruby's kiddie table in the meantime, which was pretty hilarious when we had guests.  I figure I will probably have to do this procedure from time to time, but it wasn't too hard.  It took me about an hour and a half from start to finish.

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