Hey-oh!  I am back with my latest and maybe greatest furniture project.  I really love it!

I uncovered this table from someone’s barn and it was fi-iiilthy.  It cleaned up pretty well though.  Here is the before shot.

I was actually hesitant to paint this one after I saw it clean because it has a great open grain oak top that I tend to love.

So I decided to embrace that top and the grain.  I wrote out an old Italian love poem from the 1300’s on top.  The language from that era was more closely aligned with Latin hence the old “Amor”.  The grain I love still shows through.

Ok so beginning to end, here’s what I did.  Mixed up a special green because I have been on a green kick lately.  (Hello Spring!)  I was going for celadon so I combined ASCP Antibes and Cream which has a yellow undertone to it.  I only needed one coat to cover the whole table.

Then I wrote out the center of the poem in ASCP Arles with a very fine brush across the table top.

It was very bright at that point so I used a rub on stain in plantation walnut to tone down the green and yellow and give it an aged look.  The yellow turned a delightful shade of deep peach.  I think that’s what I’d call the color of the text.

Then I lightly sanded to smooth out the text and distress the edges.  Sanding the text gave it a great two-tone effect.

I like how the top is really subtle until you get close to it.  Then, pow, you notice this old love sonnet written by a man (Francesco Petrarca) pining for a girl that he saw at church.  Seriously that’s what it translates to if you can read it.

The table is pretty versatile.  I first imagined it would be a center hall table but I am really liking it as a bedside table.  What do you think?  It will be up for sale soon.

Linking to: Funky Junk Interiors,  Elizabeth & Co, Primitive & Proper, Restore Interiors, Thrifty Decor Chick, Miss Mustard Seed