Kitchen Table and Chairs Makeover

Hooray! The kitchen table is FINALLY finished after 3 months of procrastination, indecision, and changing my mind several times on what I wanted. 

You never realize how convenient kitchen tables are until you go without one for over a year...

Yes, a year...and here's why:

When Studly and I separated, we sold our kitchen table because both of our apartments wouldn't fit the  humungoid table. It actually wasn't too bad. Diva had a dance "turn floor" in my kitchen, which also doubled as my office and study area. Since it was just me and the two kids, the three bar stools at the counter were just fine and dandy. 

I still planned on saving up for a pedestal table and chairs, but after seeing the one that I wanted, I realized that it was a little too pricey for me and being that I had actually survived refinishing my bedroom set, I figured I would head to the thrift store and come up with something on my own that was unique. Eventually, I found a pedestal table on KSL (online classifieds), but was stuck on figuring out what chairs I wanted for it.

Originally, I had planned on getting some that matched. However, after looking for inspiration via blog-land for a style that suited me, I started noticing a trend among the cottage-style decoratin' crowd of having mismatched kitchen chairs and I totally grooved on it. One of my favorite inspirations for my table was a kitchen table that Brooke at All Things Thrifty had made over.

 (Brooke's post about the table is located here on her blog). 

The process of getting it to this stage not only took the 3 months, but it also took a few major "Aack! What should I do?" moments of anxiety...

The table was the least of my worries. The one I found on KSL was in good shape and solid wood (something I have been advised to look for when picking out second hand furniture because it's much easier to work with). However, it was painted peach, which just didn't work for me. I ended up sanding all the pukey peach paint off with the orbital sander. 

Note: There is such a thing as too much sanding...as I found out later when I stained the top of the table. 

After I primed it with Rustoleum primer, I painted the base of the table with Rustoleum Gloss White Painter's Touch Spray Paint and then used Rustoleum antique glaze in Java Brown on it, as well. For the top, I stained it with some freebie Minwax stain that a friend had in his garage. I guess it's a honey color? I actually wanted the really dark, mahogony look...but since the stain I got was a freebie, I compromised.

At first, I used the spray Polycrylic to seal it, but after 3 coats, it didn't seem to be sticking well (due to my extremely thorough sanding job), so I went ahead and used the polycrylic in the can that you apply with a brush. (Polycrylic seems to be preferred over traditional Poly because it doesn't yellow.) The grain still took it a little unevenly, but it turned out okay. 

It was the chairs that caused the most anxiety and took up the most time.

I actually ended up finding and buying 6 chairs even though I only needed 4, because after bringing some home I found that they just didn't look right.

{I guess it's a good thing that they were all from the thrift store and cost about $5 ea.}

Once I finally got all my chairs home, my issues with indecision and the perpetual changing of my mind appeared. 

In all, the chairs were actually painted at least twice, with two of them painted at least 3 times (or more). This is why spray painting your furniture can be so much easier than brush painting. It's so much less time and money to re-spray paint than re-brush paint! Trust me I would know!

I guess I was "color testing" ??

I finally ended up choosing white for the ladder back chairs and the aqua color for the other two chairs. Then, I used the same antique glaze on them that I used on the table (and the bench that I did for my living room).

I had the same issue with fabric for the seats that I did with the paint. I finally found the "right" fabric on my 3rd try.

Do you love this fabric as much as I do?

The last thing I had to find was a rug to "define the space", because, the people who built our house were dorks and decided to carpet the dining area with the same crappy carpet as the rest of the house.

 In order to be able to fit the chairs on it, I needed a circular rug or an 8X10 rectangular one (a 5X8 was too small) Because rugs are ridiculously expensive, especially circular ones, I wasn't too optimistic, but I found this quirky one on KSL and I thought it would work perfectly. 

Here's one more looksie at the finished product:

I really do love it for the most part. The only thing that I am not so keen on right now is the antiquing glaze. I may end up repainting the set and using another color of glaze or maybe even skip the glaze.

Project Breakdown:

Chairs: $25 at the thrift store (The ladder back ones were a little more pricey, but worth it to me.

Table: $50 KSL

Rug: $70 KSL

Spray Paint: I spent way more money than necessary because of my lack of ability to make a decision BEFORE I painted everything ....but I'll guesstimate that you probably need about 6-7 cans for a project like this, with probably 3 cans of primer...(and I'm probably estimating really high). So, for about $4 per can...You're looking at $40

Rustoleum Antique Glaze in Java Brown: already had.

Stain: Freebie

Fabric: $5.99 per yard @ Home Fabrics and I think I used 3 yards, so $18

Approx. Total: $203

Love ya!