I refinished these two side tables for a client who loves the French country style with a touch of lived-in shabby chic. We used that gorgeous chest as inspiration, but didn’t have to worry about the price tag (over $1K!). My client wasn’t in love with those oval shapes on the upper front legs of each table, so I filled them in:

Once the wood filler dried, I was ready to paint! The inspiration chest has a chocolatey/mauve color exposed in the areas that were distressed. In order to have these pieces closely resemble that chest, I had to first paint them in a similar shade of brown. I chose Behr’s Bridle Leather for this step. I selected latex paint for the underpainting for it’s self-sealing qualities and Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint for the outermost paint because it distresses so beautifully. With the latex below creating it’s own barrier, I wasn’t as afraid of sanding through it as I distressed the layer above.

I applied several coats of Annie Sloan's Old White once the latex paint had dried. Then I distressed it gently using extra fine grit sandpaper, until that beautiful mocha color peeked through. I painted the existing hardware in a few coats of Old White. Here are some pictures of the completed Claudette sisters!