There is a First Time for Everything: Before and After

After I finished painting some of my picture frames white, I decided to share the love with some other furniture. FYI: This was my first attempt at painting furniture, so I hope you will be understanding with my painting methods. Our TV and stereo system sits on a brown, wood table (or should I say, used to). We had a lot of dark going on in that area of the room--nothing that a little white paint couldn't solve. Here is a picture of what it looked like before (notice the nasty mass of cords in the basket too):

To paint this table, I only used primer. Yes, I know--this is probably a painting "no no." Buying a new can of paint just wasn't in the budget this month, so using primer (which we already had) was a good alternative for me. Here are the pros and cons of using just primer on the table:

Pros:

• Cheaper
• Got an idea of what a white table looks like in the room without having to commit to a color
• If I want to change the color later, the table is already primed and ready to go

Cons:

• Has a dull color instead of shine (this really wasn't that big of an issue for me)
• Chips pretty easily (this was the worst part)

So, here is the finished product (notice the mass of cords has vanished. I taped them under the top of the table):

In the end, I am happy with the way my first furniture painting adventure went. Did I make some mistakes? Yes. If I could do it all over again, would I make my same painting choices? Yes.