DIY Distressed Bed Side Table

In excitement of my upcoming weekend in Greer, where I plan to tackle two DIY projects, I wanted to share some past projects that have found their way into our beachy bungalow here in Charleston.
First, the bed side table.  Mom and I went yard sale browsing and found this for $5.  Only $5?  I jumped on that purchase.  This is a shot of the table after I sanded it and removed the hardware.

Back in Greer we have a wonderful garage that protects any projects from rain and pets.  I miss that, our kitchen doubles as a DIY area and surf board repair area.  Here's the table in the middle of it's painting.  I originally wanted it to be light blue, but not that light.  SO I added some dark green and blue strokes that would show through when I distressed the table.  When you go to Lowes, they have the sample pints of paint, I do everything with those, no need for a gallon.

After working on the bottom layer of paints I did the top coat a blueish-greenish layer.  Don't ask for the paint's name...it's a blend of all the paint I had laying around.  Then I distressed the table with sand paper, a key, and a handheld sander.  A tip for distressing is to do it where the object would actually be bumped against things and where everyday use would wear it down (corners, edges, top, around handles)  The electrical sander was big help for finishing touches.

After all the distressing I did a coat or two of polyurethane.  All the original hardware went back in the table.  A tip for more DIY fun, do more objects while you are doing one.  It's great multitasking and you get more fun things and only have to get your paints and tools out once. Here's some frames I also did in the process...These have all developed their own purpose around our home.

Second, here's one of those frames.  Who said picture frames have to be limited to pictures?  To add to our beachy style, I strung the shells and beads on thin white thread, then hot glued the thread to the frame.  To stop the beads from sliding down, I used a small jewelry clamp at the bottom of each cluster.  Jeff and I found this sand dollar while surfing at Folly Beach.

Thanks for stopping by,
Jenny