An MCM Road Rescue by the DH

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DH brought home a side of the road freebie last summer.

14 months ago I cleaned and sanded it. A few months ago I primed it. Just yesterday I finally got to painting it.

 

Go Bold or Go home, right?

 
So here it is in the raw...sad and unwanted, tossed out for the garbage truck. It's a Mersman MCM. And it was Uggg-Lee.

 
 
MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}
 
MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
Here is my disclaimer regarding the MCM label in case anyone cares:

When researching this table, we could find nothing that placed it into the mid-century or mid-century modern category. Though Mersman tables are plenteous, there aren't any out there like this one. So who knows? Mid-Century...Mid-Century Modern? Vintage? Antique? Either way, it's old and not from this era. The store closed down in the mid 90s and produced more than their share of tables for around 100 years. If you know details, please share in the comments. So on with the show...

 
 
Materials

(Affiliate links are below in red for your convenience.)

 

Knobs from Hobby Lobby

 
It Never Fails

Every time I use Old Fashioned Milk Paint, I say to myself, "Self, I surely do love this stuff." It's such a smooth paint and covers well. The colors are vibrant, it doesn't go bad (comes in a powder form that you store in a glass jar), you can mix every color under the rainbo. It's so natural you feel like you are doing the world a service by using it. I used the safe paint in salmon, which is such a vibrant orange it's hard not to stand and stare at it after you get it on your piece.

 
 

STEP #1 PRIME with Zinsser 123

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 

STEP #2 PAINT with OFMP

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 

STEP #3 PAINT TRIM with Rustoleum Champagne Metallic

 

 

STEP #4 TOP COAT with CrystaLac

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 

STEP #5 ADD METALLIC LUSTRE to HARDWARE

 
 

STEP #6 INSTALL HARDWARE

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 
 
I tried a couple new products this time.

The (afflinks) CrystaLac company sent me two of their products to try out, so I used the water based gloss polyurethane over top the Old Fashioned MIlk Paint and metallic paint. I wasn't sure how they would mesh, so I tried it on the feet first and it looked great, so I kept going. I usually use a sponge, but when doing the details with a little brush, I grabbed my (afflink) Zibra angled brush because it was going on so well with my littler brush. It was a perfect tool to use with the polyurethane - it went on perfectly smooth.

 
 
I did have a little trouble with brush strokes showing on the top.

BUT, I'm sure it was due to the dryness in my workshop. I've found that "self-leveling" doesn't work when there isn't enough humidity in the air. Putting a pot of water on the stove and having sufficient heat really does matter when you're going for a flawless finish. Sanding in-between coats helps too, but I found this poly to be very hard drying - which  made it difficult to smooth it out once it dried, which by the way did so quickly. I switched to using a damp sponge and that helped to get a better finish.

 

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 

 
 
Another Concern Was the Metallic Sheen

Topcoating over metallic can dull the shine, but using this gloss polyurethane only made it more glitzy - so there was a win in the glitz category.

 
 

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 

To be honest, I'm not really into MCM

MCM to me is just reminiscent of my mom's old furniture. The appeal isn't there to me because I grew up seeing it everywhere - unlike today's younger generation who sees it as retro, and a "cool" change from the oak wood furniture of my generation they saw everywhere. To be fair, I'm very tired of the oak everywhere look too. So I saw this as a welcome change to a very outdated, ugly piece that was a road side piece of junk. The Mersman brand apparently is a big seller.

BUT I do love this piece - it's so vibrant and fun to look at.

 

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 
 

To make my point, let's revisit, and you tell me...

 

BEFORE

MCM End Table {Love My DIY Home}

 

AFTER

 
 

What do you think? Was it an improvement over the original?

Did I do good? Old Fashioned Milk Paint is a winner when it comes to artistic expression. You start with warm to hot water in a cup and mix in the powdered paint until you get the consistency you like. I use either a fork, a whisk, submersible blender, or a popsicle stick to mix. It's typically 50/50 water/paint, but I lean toward a little thicker than that. The magical part is that when you paint, you get a varied look. You get a uneven color variation that is amazing, especially if you mix together several colors to make your own unique paint color. The colors reflect differently based on the lighting of the day and your angle.

 

So, what are you working on right now? Are you flipping? Are you making a gift for Christmas? Are you painting?

 
 
 
OPPORTUNITIES
 
Do you want to learn how to redesign furniture? Check into my Furniture Flipping Blueprint.
 
Furniture Flipping Forum on Facebook – We are 35,000+ members strong from over 100 countries. Come join us!
 
 
Talk soon!

* Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy anything after clicking on one of the affiliate links, I receive a small commission of the sale. The cost to you is the same, and I only link to items that I think would benefit my readers. Your support of this blog is greatly appreciated! This post was sponsored by Old Fashioned Milk Paint and CrystaLac by supplying some of the materials for this project – Thank you!

10 thoughts on “An MCM Road Rescue by the DH”

  1. Hi i just found the same table please notify me if you have found any information on the table please and it came out real beautiful thank you

    Reply
  2. That piece came out beautiful. I know this was posted a while ago but I just came across the same exact table at a Goodwill for eight dollars. It had been painted red with gold trim. I plan on using a cream colored chalk paint and some brown wax to seal. We shall see how this turns out

    Reply

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