Killer Legs: Work Table to French Farm Swirl Table

It was the legs that got me.

Leaning, without their tabletop, in a corner of a filthy, rundown garage apartment formerly inhabited by a very disorganized old person and what must have been a dozen cats. Or so it seemed, from the clouds of cat hair collected in every nook, every pile of neglected furnishings, everywhere I turned. But there they were.

Killer curves, charming little wood wheels.

After a short search, the rather disheveled table top turned up nearby, leaning against another wall along with old plywood and a nasty cabinet made of MDF, which was fraying from moisture exposure. I left that. But now I had this:

The leaf was nowhere to be found, but the table would serve me well until I figured out another use for the legs. I needed someplace to lay brushes, rags, tools, and paint cans while I used them, and to prop smaller projects on to work. So, for several months, that's what it did.

But I kept seeing those legs.

And, after awhile, I began thinking in earnest how nice that table would look all painted up. So that's what I did. So now I have this:

I wanted to make an expressive statement on the top and the gorgeous, killer legs had to be highlighted.

But it still needed to remind me of its age. It is an antique, after all. So the top got painted with a freehanded swirl pattern and sanded to give it the time-worn look of so many elegant dinner parties like my parents used to have, and the legs got a very colorful, heavily distressed treatment.