Zinc about it.

Is there a school closing near you? If so, hooray! Consider yourself lucky! (Unless your kid went to that school … in which case … bummer). BUT! Perhaps the school is selling off some furniture. Hustle your buns over there and see what you can nab. Old school furniture is super sturdy and can make a great industrial-style addition to your home.

The always amazing Michelle at 4 Men 1 Lady recently acquired this science classroom table.  You’ll never guess what she paid. I’ll tell you. Four bucks! Sure, she had to sand off a few anatomy ‘lessons’ that had been ‘artfully’ engraved on the top by previous students, but that’s a small price to pay for such a small price to pay.

She transformed it with chalk paint which was the perfect choice because it requires no sanding nor priming (unless of course, your furniture is engraved with obscenities, you’re going to want to sand away those), but once Michelle had smoothed it out, the paint went on like buttah.  She finished it off with a clear coat of wax, and everything was perfect.

OR WAS IT?

A short time later, she changed her mind about the white tabletop. No, YOU shut up! I thought it looked great too! But she decided it needed to be a bit more indestructible. Michelle knows a thing or two about living in a house full of boys.

So she had a piece of galvanized metal professionally welded over the top instead, then treated it with an antiquing solution to resemble aged zinc. It looks 100% authentic, I’d say, and definitely able to withstand whatever punishment three young boys can dish out. Check out her post how to make galvanized steel look like zinc to get all the details.

Which one is your favorite??