I‘ve had this adorable little table for a long time. Lately it has just been hanging out in a garage waiting to be loved again. {Don’t worry, table, I’ve never stopped loving you. You just haven’t worked anywhere I needed you. You deserved to be someplace special.}
I actually bought this table about 15 years ago, right off the truck of an antique dealer during our neighborhood’s annual garage sale. I paid the guy too much money, but I loved this little table. It was perfect in my tiny little English living room. It was well used and loved for many years.
But, when I moved to “the big house” it was too tiny for my rooms. So, it sat. Sad and lonely. And when we moved to this house, it didn’t fit in to the look I was going for. So it sat again. Lonely and blue.
Until this weekend.
When I decided on a whim a couple of weeks ago to move my leather ottoman to my family room (you know how those whims go) my living room was left in need of a coffee table. I thought about this sad little table which had now become a surface for garage junk. Yet, the sad little coffee table was no longer as pretty as it once was. Its worn wood top and dark orange wood finish just didn’t suit me any longer.
What to do with a lonely and blue coffee table?
I could have painted it white. Or gray. Or black. Or even teal. But being the decorating rebel that I am, I risked it all and painted it bright BLUE.
Boat blue by Valspar (interior satin), to be exact!
It is BLUE and I LOVE IT!
I know, all wood furniture lovers are going to hate me for painting it. I think my husband almost had a heart attack. But remember, I love wood furniture and have several gorgeous wood pieces in my home. I just don’t like too much wood or too many kinds of wood in one space. And if it is in poor shape and ready for a makeover, I am willing to take a paint brush to wood in order to fall in love with it all over again.
Better a painted table you adore than a wood one you keep because you feel obligated, but you don’t really love at all.
The little table is no longer lonely and blue. Now it is well-loved and a beautiful shade of blue.
Are you brave enough to do what you love?
What holds you back?
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You are such a rebel! Ha! Love the blue! ; )
the BLAH BLAH BLAHger recently posted..IS IT A CAMERA BAG OR A PURSE
I think your blue table is wonderful and adds a totally great dimension to that room. I think its always good to go for it. You can always change paint – that is what I always say.
Jocelyn Stott recently posted..Summer Sunsets
I love it!
I love that you painted the table and are able to use it and love it more!
Okay, I have to admit I squealed a bit when I saw this!!! It is so beautiful. The blue paint brings out all the wonderful details. Now I am frantically searching my mind for a place to place a brightly painted piece of furniture.
Thank you. I squealed too!
You know you love something when you can’t help but squeal 
What a fabulous blue that you chose (not that there is a ‘bad’ blue in my book!). The table looks beautiful with it’s reinvigorated look… it has become the focal point of the room. The silvery tray looks so crisp & cool against the rich blue, & the bright white star fish provides great contrast. Just shows what a difference the right accessories can make! I applaud your bravery:)
Katherine (Kat) recently posted..Summer Time Its Show Time
That blue is just gorgeous!! Perfect color choice! I love how the color really makes the detail on the table pop! LOVE it!
mrs.mfc recently posted..Ts White Party
I love this blue SOOOOOOOOOOO much! …it’s happy, bold and VERY BLUE..Bloo, BLU!!!!!!!!!!! It is absolutely smashing, I bet it makes your whole room look new again and fresh. I’ve been wanting to paint some of our coffee tables, I’m just not sure yet what color I’m wanting or needing……….Blue is my all time favortie color though. You are rocking with your boat blue painted table! Lovely
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Why not try lime…..it’s the thing here in Florida or hot pink!! Have fun!
I’m looking right now for the just-right table myself for an all white bedroom! Plan to use whites, weathered woods and one great painted piece…LIME! I like lime also on old wicker!! 
Twitter: FairfieldHouse
says:
I love that you love it. After all, isn’t that the kind of home we all trying to create — a place we love to be, a place that reflects our personalities, a place that inspires us! I am also a ‘designing rebel without pause’ and if I get an idea I try it. What’s the worst thing that can happen? It’s only paint.
Deborah
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I LOVE THIS SITE! I LIVE ON THE BEACH AND I LET NATURE INSPIRE THE COLORS I USE. THEN A POP OF SOMETHING GREAT! LIME, CORAL, VIOLET, HOT PINK ARE GREAT HERE COASTAL! And of course whites, off whites and all the weathered gray colors! Peace
i agree 100%.
i love the blue.
meg duerksen recently posted..random
I. Love. That. Table. We’ve been thinking about doing something like that to a sideboard in the dining room. Now it’s on like donkey kong.
Kendra recently posted..Come Write With Me
Adorable post Melissa. I feel like it should be a childrens book. The Tale of the Little BLUE Table!
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Can I tell you that I adore that blue. But MOSTLY I am SO relieved that I can see streaks from your paintbrush on your table. I’m painting wood furniture for the first time and was waiting for the layer of paint that would magically make my brush strokes disappear (you know, so it looks like coloured Ikea furniture). I started to think that maybe it never gets that way. . .and then I come online and find your perfectly painted table, and can see some slight strokes. *relief*
Here’s to keepin’ it real.
– Vanessa
ps – I think I need a yellow coffee table. Whadaya think?
Ha, yep! It is totally imperfect, and has brush strokes, it could use more work to make it all perfectly distressed or whatever, but I’m moving on! Life is too short to worry about a few brush strokes. A YELLOW coffee table would be divine.
Wow yes! Yellow!! Awesome! Love the idea. My great room in my upstairs Key West home at the beach is a very light yellow and I’m going to use corals and lime with it! And maybe a yellow table!!!
Going to use lime one in the all white bedroom. Also my BR is light blue with black knobs, etc. Using a black poster bed with black and white photos framed and of course white sea shells and gray weathered woods! I love decorating, it makes me continue to look at nature for inspiration!! Have a lovely day! Love this site! 
In P.C. Fl
Melissa, it looks beautiful! I love sprucing up old things with paint too & have a chest/dresser that I’ve just finished up as a flat screen TV holder for our bedroom. Post coming tomorrow! So yes, why not change it if it doesn’t work anymore? I think a painted piece is at home in every room.
Okay, went to her site (which I do every day!) and my favorite necklaces are the “Forever” necklace and the “You are Loved” necklace!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! It seems kind of silly to say but it does seem courageous to go for it. Maybe it’s courageous because you followed your heart and not what you’re “supposed to do”. Not that I don’t love wood, but color also adds so much to a home, personality, happiness, warmth, soul…
Oh my heavens… I love it! My husband is always telling me, “You can’t paint over that… Its wood!”… But I love me a painted piece! Beautiful… Now to find something I can paint!
Love the blue table. I just spray painted a little side table silver! It’s a Duncan Phyfe style that was one of my parents first pieces of furniture. I thought my dad might have a heart attack too, but he just smiled a crooked little smile!
On the other note…I’ve always been Brave enough to do what I love, but after treatment and surviving breast cancer, Ain’t Nothin’ Going go to hold me back now!!!
xo, Sheri
GO SHERI!!!! I DO THE SAME, LIFE IS WAY TO SHORT TO COLOR ONLY INSIDE THE LINES, I SAY! HIGH FIVIN’ YA! PC Fl.
Love the new look of your table! Very modern!! I don’t know whether you ever read “Living ETC” magazine from the UK. You will see these same type of furniture transformations in all kinds of colors. I think you will be surprised that you are right in step with the Brits! Congrats on your bravely to fulfill your vision!!
I’ve always loved the Brits design sense!
Your table is fantastic! Love the color and what a statement it makes…sometimes you just have to go Bold or stay home right? I just finished a repainted vanity…didn’t get bold with it, but I have some bold color plans for my daughter’s room that it will be going in.
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Wow! What a bright spot of joy right there in the middle of your room! You are so much braver than I am. I love your confidence in color!
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Hi Melissa, I am one of the winners of the Live with what you Love book. I hope it’s not too late. I apologize. I had to get a new laptop and well, I don’t have internet access on my phone. I tried to get to you by email, but for some reason the link on your blogger profile won’t work for me. If it’s too late I am bummed, but if not could you please email me at xxzanniexx(at)gmail (dot)(com) Thank you so much, and I LOVE the blue table.
Karen recently posted..I know I know
girl, you did that table a lot of good!
xoxo.
tiny twig recently posted..Marriage
Great post Melissa, makes me think of a Sesame Street song “Fuzzy and Blue, all over, fuzzy and blue like Grover”. Grover was my oldest son’s favorite character!
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Ha! That is so funny! I think about Grover all the time! I always remember his “near and far” routine. When I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off here and there I hear his voice as he ran back and forth teaching my kids about “near and ….{stomp stomp stomp} far” !!!
Bold choice! I love it. The blue is gorgeous.
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“Better a painted table you adore than a wood one you keep because you feel obligated, but you don’t really love at all.”
That quote just lept out at me, especially when accompanied by that beautiful blue table! I have this old sewing machine cabinet that I really don’t like that much, but I’ve been keeping it around out of ….. what, some sort of obligation? I have it in the garage, never knew what to do with it. It’s going to look smashing in blue!! Thanks for the tip and inspiration!
Glad you were brave ~ love the blue table.
Fondly,
Glenda
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Twitter: nikkisnacs
says:
The blue is beautiful!
nikki recently posted..the new living room corner
Love this transformation!
-FringeGirl
So, what type of paint do you use to paint your furniture? Eggshell, satin, flat, etc.? I have painted a bookcase and a side table before and wasn’t too happy with either one because the paint seems “sticky” – as in if I leave a picture frame in one spot it peels up the paint when I try to pick it up and move it. I assume I am using the wrong type of paint. Any ideas?
I would never have thought of painting it blue, but it’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing it on my link party
Oh, I LOVE it Melissa! I love color and I painted the dresser in our bedroom yellow….and am using ribbons for the pulls and I’m so happy I did it. (Well, my husband did it, and I’m so glad I made him.
)
bridget {bake at 350} recently posted..Cookies for I Heart Faces
You are so cute – I love the way you write! Great ideas as well.
i *heart* the blue and LOVE the table. Great job rebel woman
….
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Oh. My. Word. I want this table SO BAD! It is so cute! I love that you repurposed it and fell back in love with it (even if you never stopped loving it… haha)
Wow-I have that exact same table – only mine is not blue–very interesting to see the transformation. Someday…maybe.
Thanks for sharing.
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Melissa – Talk me into it!! I have a french country coffee table from Ethan Allen. I bought it full price WHEN I could afford it. Without full time employment and 3 kids, I can’t afford anything
. Anyway, I still love the shape and curves of the table, but the wood drives me crazy! I sat staring at it last night asking – white or black? I just need the courage to put a paint brush to the $600 coffee table (although it is now 10 years old and beat up from matchbox cars being zoomed across it and pen scratches from little ones pushing down too hard). Thanks for this post 
.
GONNA HELP YOU OUT….GO FOR IT! PASTEL PINK, LIME, HOT PINK, YELLOW……….CLOSE YOUR EYES AND PICK!
I really love this pop of color. Have a table that needs something like this!
Amanda Carver recently posted..Confession
I love this table and its details. And, I love that you painted it blue. It’s perfect.
Heather Duren recently posted..Paint It This Not That
Oh I’ve recently made a mess of one of my pieces. It wasn’t antique or even “real” wood but I knew it wasn’t working whatever it was. So, I painted. The.Wrong.Color. I am reworking it tonight but no worries, it will still be a more tasteful statement in the room.
Your table is great. A great way to bring pieces back in our life.
Hi, just found your blog and am wandering around, enjoying the view.
I love the blue table- it’s inspiring me to paint my wee little cabinet that I will be using as an island in the kitchen. It’s so small, I hate to even call it an island, maybe a cay? ha! I was originally thinking black or white, but would love a “real” color.
that is great! aww i love BLUE! and i love that table. where ever did you find it?!! thanks
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When I saw the picture of the table before it was blue, I fell in love with it. The detail and the gracefully curved legs, like Queen Anne style, is gorgeous. I looked at the after picture of the table now blue. I wasn’t too sure I liked it. I scrolled back and forth between the original and the blue. Then I pictured the table with a lot other wood pieces and suddenly the blue stood out, all beautiful and regal and I loved it. If I had lived near you, I probably would have offered to buy it from you while it was sitting all lonely in your garage but I never would have thought to paint it blue. I am now going to be carefully looking at some old pieces in my house and see who is going to get a make-over. Already several tables have thrown one of their legs in the air yelling “ME! Pick me!”
Oh this is so much of a refreshing post on do what you love.
I LOVE this blue. I love wood too but this color coat is totally worth it. You give me ideas!
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