THIS BATTERED CURBSHOP SIDE TABLE GETS A BRAND-NEW STYLE WITH A FAUX CINNABAR PAINT FINISH | YOUTUBE VIDEO

Hello beautiful SI family! Today is the last post for me until 2026. Wow—can you believe how fast this year has flown by? I’m so grateful you’re here, following along and cheering on all our creative projects. And if you’re new around here, FFU is the fourth Thursday of every month when I team up with my incredibly talented furniture-painting friends. Today, we are sharing each other’s all-time favorite makeovers of 2025. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of today’s post and click through the links to see their amazing before-and-afters—you won’t want to miss the inspiration!

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Here’s the carved table I found tossed to the curb this past summer. It was in pretty bad shape. There was a scar on the top and it had missing trim. But I couldn’t help salvaging this piece. I loved the shape, size, and all the pretty details. I loaded it into my FUV and headed home.

When I got it into my studio and took a better look – whew, I had my work cut out for me.

I don’t know where this piece was kept before it was put out on the curb, but it was filthy from top to bottom.

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WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Ornate Carved Table  – SALVAGED
White Lightning Cleaner
Auto Sponge
Sanding Sponge
Titebond Wood Glue
Glue Applicator Syringe
Continuous Water Mister
Fiery Sky SILK All-In-One Mineral Paint
Shop Towels
Paint Brush
Satin Clear Coat

CURBSIDE CINNABAR TABLE MAKEOVER

Here’s how it all came together…

CLEANING, CLEANING, AND MORE CLEANING

I took the drawer out and found a Brother of the Good Shepherd Christmas ornament.  It’s always fun to find personal belongings in drawers. Then grabbed my heavy-duty furniture cleaner and a dollar store brush and started scrubbing. This table was so filthy I ended up bringing it outside and hosing it down before giving it another scrubbing. I must have spent over an hour and a half cleaning this table. Then I left it outside to dry. Luckily, the weather was beautiful and hot (and I can’t say the same thing now as we are sitting at -10 degrees C.), but within 48 hours, I was able to bring the table back into the house, and it was 100% dry.

GLUE UP

The table was old, so the goal of the glue-up wasn’t to make it look new or perfect, but to piece it back together and salvage what I could. For more delicate work or hard-to-reach places, I like using these Glue Applicator Syringes. They are very inexpensive and are a single-use item – no clean up.

I started by taking a good look at what I had to work with. As I mentioned, a few pieces were missing—like the bottom rail on one side—and some of the trim was broken, so I had to get a little creative. I used one long piece of trim (which I’m guessing originally ran along the bottom shelf) and cut it down to size to match the trim on the opposite side. Then, using my glue syringe, I carefully reattached and repaired all the delicate details as best I could. You can see more of this process in the YouTube video tutorial at the bottom of this post.

Once I had everything in place, I secured it by wrapping green painter’s tape and clamps and let everything dry overnight.

HAND SCUFF SAND

The next morning I hand-sanded this table with a 220 grit sanding pad. A light scuff sand was all that needed before painting with an all-in-one paint to get the faux Cinnabar look. To wipe off the dust, I wiped it down with a tack cloth. If you don’t have tack cloths, a slightly damp towel or lint-free cloth works well.

 FIERY SKY PAINT

Now for the fun part! I grabbed Fiery Sky Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint so I wouldn’t have to prime or topcoat. This is a vibrant red – exactly what I was looking for! Cinnabar furniture is usually made of wood and finished in layers of rich red lacquer, giving it that bold, dramatic look. It often features carved details that let the deeper tones peek through, adding lots of character and old-world charm. This was the perfect piece to create this finish on!

I painted one coat on the top and then wiped it back with a paper towel to reveal all the engraved design. At this stage of the paint finish, it looked like a horror show. I always try to remember there’s an ugly-scary phase before the beautiful. I just have to trust the vision and the creative process.

PAINTING HIGHLIGHTS

To add color and highlights to the rest of the table, I used a dry-brush method. Keeping the brush on the dry side and adding very little paint, I just lightly ran the paint over the high spots. This technique works beautifully on any piece of furniture with raised details. Again, the key is not loading your brush with too much paint. Instead, very gently kiss the bristles along the raised design, keeping a soft, light touch the whole time.

If you happen to get too much paint in one area—as I did in the square section right above the leg—I simply sprayed it with a bit of water and wiped it back. It’s a very forgiving technique and one that really brings furniture details to life. Using this bright red paint over such a dark finish, it mutes the red and leaves the Cinnabar ‘look’!

‘SOFT’ DISTRESSING WITH BRUSH

When I stepped back and looked at the piece as a whole, I wasn’t completely happy with the wash on the top and bottom shelf. It didn’t look quite distressed enough to blend in with the rest of the piece.  To remove a little more paint for a Cinnabar look, I took my water mister and a paint brush – sprayed and lightly rubbed some of the paint off. I repeated this until I was happy with the look. This technique will only work if your paint is freshly applied. If I were to wait overnight or a few days, the paint would have adhered and not rubbed off.

PROTECT WITH TOPCOAT

I used Silk All-In-One Mineral Paint, which doesn’t require a topcoat, but to get more of the Cinnabar carved Lacquerware faux finish on this table,  I applied two coats of  Satin Clear Coat. This topcoat can be sprayed or brushed, and it’s very easy to use. It has a milky color when first applied, so I know exactly where I’ve brushed and what areas I’ve missed brushing.