Love/Hate Relationship

My mom found this antique plant stand for me earlier this year. I loved it!


Isn't it cute? It fits just perfectly in our hallway.


I decided to make the plant stand my summer project and paint it. It took me awhile to decide what color, but I finally settled on doing a faux crackle finish. I've never done that before, but I thought, how hard could it be?

So I started on this table back in late June. I painted it tan, the color I wanted the cracks to be.


After buying two or three crackle finishes, testing them and finally finding one that I liked (I wanted the porcelain crack, not the weathered crack), I put the crackle finish on top. It cracked beautifully. I was pretty impressed with myself.


Here's where the pictures stop for awhile. The back of the crackle finish bottle said to paint your top color next, which was a nice chocolate brown. So I tried it on the underside of the table first. I didn't like it. It looked like leather–not what I wanted. After researching for awhile, I bought a glaze. The picture in the brochure for the glaze was just what I wanted! I tried that on another part of the underside. Again, I didn't like it. I decided I didn't like the table now. I put it in the corner of the laundry room and didn't touch it for awhile.

After about a month, I got over being mad at the plant stand. I decided to sand the crackle, redo it and paint it chocolate brown.


Again, the pictures stopped. I got mad at the plant stand. It was nothing like I had imagined. So I put it back in my laundry room. I contemplated giving it way or throwing it in the Dumpster.

But I didn't.

Instead, it sat there...

...until I woke up one Saturday morning in late August and decided I was ready to face the table again.

I realized the paint colors were part of the problem–the tan was too similar to our wall color and the chocolate brown was too chocolate brown and bland.


So I mixed them and made a dusty chocolaty brown.


I researched other faux textures. I found one using tissue paper that sounded really easy. I decided to try it.


I painted the table (yet again) the tan color (for a second time). Then I crumpled a piece of tissue paper and wrapped it around the legs; I did the same thing for the top. I used my new dusty brown color and painted over the tissue paper.

It looked like a brown paper lunch sack wrapped around the table. I didn't really like it. I contemplated throwing the table in the Dumpster again.

But I didn't.

Instead, I changed my mind–again.


I decided to see what it would look like if I painted the tan below and on top of the tissue paper. Surprise, surprise...I didn't like that either. So I redid that leg and stuck with the dusty brown.

I went out on a limb and tried the glaze (again). This time, I used cheesecloth. When I first tried the glaze, I had used an old T-shirt–which could've been part of the problem before.


I was very surprised and pretty pleased with the result. I actually liked it! So I kept going. I added two top coats of a clear sealer. My love/hate relationship with this plant stand came to an end–finally!

Now my plant stand is sitting pretty in the hallway.


I realize from afar in the picture it still somewhat resembles a brown paper lunch sack, but up close it's perfect!