Farmhouse Style Coffee Table Makeover {Before and After}

 Last year, my mother-in-law bought a beautiful house right by a lake. Throughout the past year, I've been helping her with some ideas on how to make it feel a little more like a "lake house" and slowing have been implementing those ideas :) We put up some board and batten, added a new rug and few different accessories. The next thing on the list was resurrecting her coffee table. Most of the furniture in her house is really dark, and so we'll be working on painting and changing things out one by one. This coffee table was the first up! Here's the before:

 It's actually a really decent, well built coffee table and I knew it could look amazing in here with just a little paint :)

 So, here's how I did it. First off was to sand it a little bit, to rough it up so it would take the paint better.

 Next was painting it. We used a semi-gloss white mixed with primer.

 Once the paint was dried. I added 1x6 boards to the top of the table, making it the same width and length as the top. I lucked out and somehow five boards equaled the exact width of the table :) I secured these boards on with 2" finishing nails.

 Then I sanded the boards.

 I focused heavily on the edges and corners to give it a really smooth look.

 Next was applying the stain. I used Classic Grey from Minwax. This color turned out amazing with just one coat!

 I waited a day for the stain to set and then added some poly. We ended up using 3 coats for maximum durability :)

 The last step was distressing it a bit. I love how the black showed through just a bit.

 Here's what the corners looked like once all done...and the color of course. After a few days, the grey ended up looking a little more brown. I think if we had added an extra coat, it would have stayed a little more grey.

 For the drawers, I was contemplating changing out the knobs, but once we put them back on they looked amazing!

 We even distressed the legs a little bit. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it works!

 I love how it brightened up this space so much. Now if we can get rid of those navy couches! haha. I told her, she needs to work with them, not around them. Don't decorate as if they weren't there, use the colors from them in your decor. Either way, she's getting new couches soon :)

 Here's the top view of the coffee table display and a good idea of the stain color.

 This rug was a Target find, it's the Maples Fretworks rug.

 Now let's look at these amazing windows that look over the lake! I think we are going to try to add some board and batten in the dining room too. We'll see :)

 Here's another before of the table:

 And after:

 Can't wait to show you more of what's in store for her house! We have planked walls, square board and batten and a ton more things to do!