Oh, and this.

Of course.
So here we have the tabletop all nicely sanded back, to get some of the varnish off so the paint sticks.

And here it is sunbaking after a nice turps rub down.

All primed and ready to go...

And for the record? Old cloth nappies are the BEST drop cloths. Hallelujah and amen.
Next, I had to tape off the middle bit of the table, so I could spray the edges.
Why you ask?
You shall see.
I used some scrap paper I had lying around after priniting off some songs for church on Sunday

Those curves?
TEDIOUS.
I'd complain more, but if you know me, you'd know I was in my element.
Want to know what the song was?

Listen to it
HERE. It's my in my heart and soul right now. I'm constantly singing it.

Next came the taping off of the newly painted stuff to paint the inside part.
Oh. my. WORD... this took me so long. It took even longer, since it was about here that the catastrophe happened...
Eli lost my wedding ring.
I'd taken off my rings to paint, and put them in a cup.
You know...
safe.
Finally found it after about 45 minutes, in the gutter of my driveway.

Once the ring had been found, I finished taping it all off, and it was time to use the secret ingredient...

I've been meaning to make this into a chalkboard to write a weekly bible verse on to get the kids (and myself) in to the habit of learning scripture by heart.
Is it bad that I'm also hoping to send subliminal messages through it too? My first two will be "how good it is for brothers to live in harmony" and "LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER".
*ahem*
So I sprayed.
And sprayed.
And sprayed.
And look what happened.

See that white bit? It's the paint, coming off in little balls like sand. Only in that darker area you see. And, obviously, where the white is.
I was going to go distressed, but that was for the frame, not the blackboard!

My perfectionism is cringing that I don't have the end product to show, but I'm going to have to sand it all back, and next time, I think I"ll get a tin of paint on chalckboard paint.
NOT a fan of the spray kind.
But you get the idea,
Next week, I'll show the fixer-uppin' of the fixer upper.

Including getting rid of the big smear I did on the ledge there.
Man I was miffed.