DIY Coffee table redo

I've been on a coffee table hunt for awhile.  I knew exactly what I wanted and could not settle for anything that didn't fulfill the dream coffee table I had in my head:  a nicely distressed barnwood top with white legs that had some sort of interesting shape to them.  Then I came across this perfect gem at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $20, my day was made!!

I knew I could transform this into just what I had been looking for.  First I had to sand the top.  Since I don't have a power sander I manually sanded it and got a free arm/back workout in the process ;)

Then I re-distressed the top a little bit by using both ends of the hammer to add some dents and grooves. 

To finish the top I stained it with Minwax Classic Gray Stain and then dry brushed over it with some charcoal gray and turquoise craft paint, going in the direction of the wood grain.  (Tip- When dry brushing start light with just a few strokes and then you can go back and add more and more layers.  While it may be tempting to put more paint on your brush at a time if you go too heavy it will take a lot of extra time & energy to undo.)  Then I white washed over it with a mixture of white paint and water, this is how it looked just after that, although the white wash lightened up over time.

Since I did not want to sand all the curves on the legs I did some research on paint/primer that would adhere directly to the lacquered finish.  I decided to go with Glidden Gripper White Primer/Sealer.

As you can see my kids were enjoying some fresh air in the backyard with their ball while momma was working, win-win!

I could have just done a couple coats of this to achieve that distressed look on the legs, but I went all perfectionist and did about 5 coats to get almost a pure white finish.  I may go back and sand a little more character into the legs with a fine grit sandpaper at some point.

The finished product....I'm in love!!