How-To: Mid Century Upcycle
Who doesn't love the sleek look of mid century modern furniture? We got quite the lust for it watching Mad Men. It's a style most popular in the 60's and 70's with bright rooms full of shell chairs and sleek sofas
We've been searching for a good Mid Century piece since we started upcycling and we finally found what we've been searching for while browsing Craigslist last week.
2 Mid Century Modern Step Tables
Someone was just trying to de-clutter their home, and we picked them up for a steal!
We went to Lowes to get some in-the-aisle inspiration, which isn't always the best. We did decide to do a pop of color with a nice orange "burnt orange" if you want to sound fancy. We thought we picked a nice stain for the legs but disaster was soon to come...
In order to get the paint off the legs we used a spray-can paint stripper. Watch out kids, this stuff bites.
The paint crackled and our hands burned (make sure to wear gloves... we did not.. ). Though, it was probably the most satisfying thing in the world to easily scrape the paint off with a plastic scraper.
The legs are probably the most iconic part of a MCM piece, with their thin, slanted look. We got excited to stain them (and it was our first time trying!) unfortunatley there was some miscommunication at Lowes.... the stain ended up being the EXACT same color as the paint we had just scraped off. (Sorry no picture...we were too frustrated -- it came off with the paint stripper)
Another trip to Lowes later...we finally got it right.
This stain is called "Pecan" and we love it.
Finally the fun part... painting. We wrapped up the freshly stained (but dried) legs in plastic bags and went to work.
I definitely questioned our choice of orange at first.. but I have to say it looks pretty dang good.
And finally.... drumroll... Here is our finished product, with some before and after comparison. Who the hell painted these things brown in the first place!
We are amazed with how these tables turned out. It's hard to resist keeping them for ourselves.. you can check them our in our "For Sale" section, they are listed for a good price to a good home!