Actually, this story would more appropriately be named "During and After". I thought I had photos of this table "Before" but I cannot seem to find them! I have had this table for over 5 years now.....one of the many pieces I have inherited from my mother's collection of furniture. She bought this table from Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica probably 25 years ago and had it in her home near Santa Fe. In its original form, it was multicolored like the top (I have not painted the top in this photo). Each stick was a different paint color and it looked like auto paint....metallics and very bright. 

It was fun table, but it never seemed to go with anything in the house. I did like the form of the table and did not want to sell it. I had wanted to paint it for years. But Mom was not on board. We recently tried to find out more about the artist and see if he was still working. Mom hunted around in her papers and actually found the receipt!  After contacting the gallery, we found that they had not heard anything about him for over 15 years, so it was a "go" for paint!

I was a bit worried about how to go about painting this. There were so many sticks, and getting to them all to sand them, prime them, etc. was near impossible. Thank goodness for my friends at University Art!  I went to ask their advice and they recommended a spray paint called Montana Gold Spray Color: Shock White. No primer needed and it sticks to pretty much any surface: wood, concrete, metal, plastic, etc. It dries really fast and there are 204 colors!!!! Sounded perfect. Off I went with three cans.

 The paint worked really well! It had a nice matt finish, which I wanted, and went on really nicely. The only hitch is that I needed three more cans for the size of the tables.....so many little crevices!. I think it still might need another coat, but I could not wait to try it in place.

I had a galvanized metal top made for the table a few years ago (which is why I did not paint the top!), so we put that back on. It now sits in the dining room bringing the outside in with a very large rustic birdcage on top.

 My mom has seen it and now likes it much better too!

What did you do last weekend? I'd love to see any of your "Before and Afters"!