Train Table Redo

This project was a compromise between my oldest son and me. We bought our oldest a Thomas the Tank Engine train table when our youngest son came home. He was obsessed with all things Thomas. It was a splurge but has been worth every cent. He has played on that thing for hours and hours. Lately, he's not into trains as much and has used it a bit for racing cars but really not much at all. I was planning on selling it in a garage sale (and using that space in his room for a small air hockey table that was handed down to us- fun!). He liked the air hockey table idea, but when it came down to it, he couldn't bear the thought of parting with his train table. I asked him if he'd like to keep it, and that I'd paint it so it would be more for race cars as he gets older. He loved that idea. So I got to work.

His table used to look like this. Cute for a preschooler, although not my favorite decor! :)

I started by using some Liquid Sander followed by a light sanding by hand where needed. Then I used a gray primer on the whole thing. If you've never used a tinted primer, try it! When your final color is dark or bright, a tinted primer gives you much better coverage.

After the whole thing was gray, I painted it blue. The exact color is Lupine from Sherwin-Williams. It's one of my favorite blues for the boys' rooms. It also goes really well with the blues in Pottery Barn Kids quilts.

Yes, that is an old shower curtain as a drop cloth. I just set up in our extra bedroom, which is my painting room. If I can paint canvases in there, why not furniture? By the way, I switched out that khaki shower curtain for a white one in our master bath, and it made a huge difference. Should've done it forever ago. Wait... how did I get here? We're talking about a table. I took out the removable panels that had a scene on them. Based on some inspiration from flickr photos, I decided to paint them with chalkboard paint.

I finished the table while the boys were spending the day with my mom, and I couldn't wait for him to see! I wanted to give him an example of what he could do with the chalkboard, so I left him a little surprise for when he got home. He LOVED it!

He's made all kinds of designs, erased, and started over many times! At this moment, you can barely see the black for all the chalk (thanks to his little brother). This was such a fun project and will last him a long time. The best part is that it's even more usable than it was before, AND it was free! I had all of the supplies here already, and it was a relatively short project as well.