French Candy Label Table

So I found this little table at a yard sale. It had great bones but had been painted badly with an ivy stencil. 

The previous owner did not apply the paint correctly and they used an acrylic paint over the white base coat which was oil paint. (If you are not sure about the type of paint on something- use the alcohol test. Rub it with a cotton ball dipped in rubbing alcohol and only oil paint will come off-acrylic won't)




This little guy needed some serious design intervention. So I stripped most of the paint off and sanded the hell out of it. The metal edge was sanded using a wire brush attachment on my drill. It works great in small areas that have lots of small detail. I also re-glued the legs for proper sturdiness. Then came the fun part! I looked on line and found a cool french candy tin label and then painted the table by hand using acrylic paint. Finally I distressed the paint using some steel wool and 240 grit sand paper. I find that if you sand when the paint is almost dry but not quite, you achieve a more authentic chippy/distressed look. 
And here is the result!  Tres bien, n'est pas?