The "Sample" Table

A told a friend of a friend I would refinish a couple of furniture pieces for her daughter's bedroom,with the request being some sort of distressed light to medium light blue finish. I haven't seen the pieces but was told that they are stained dark and have some architecture. So, instead of experimenting on a sample cabinet door, I decided to practice on a side table that I had not used since for awhile.

After cleaning and a light sanding, I distressed it with a metal kabob skewer.  Other distressing tools that are good are screwdrivers, hammers and even banging keys that are strung together, however, sometimes depending on the wood, the "key bang" techniquecan end up looking like a bunch of chickens ran across it.  I didn't do any priming because I painted it with Behr's All in One Paint and Primer. After the paint dried, I distressed some of the edges using a razor blade.

I then brushed on and wiped off a chocolate colored glaze to sort of tea stain the piece (very subtle) and highlight some of the architecture.

I then dry brushed a cream colored paint over the piece... 

and wiped off  and  softened the areas.

To darken the feet, I rubbed on some Antique Mahogany Stain and Seal. You can see some of my skewer distressing (holes).

Below is the finished table. Since the piece is a "sample" table (I am not going to keep this finish), I did not topcoat it with polyurethane like I normally would.