Dinning room tables are one of the most important places in a home. Countless dinners, good laughs, family time, stories, projects, paper work, learning space, and so much more.
A lot happens around the dinning room table and it takes a lot of abuse, especially if you have little ones. We had a table and chair set that needed a serious makeover. For less than $40 I managed to make our dinning room set look brand new!
The top of the table was scratched and scuffed and there were only two chairs left that were still useable. The table was still very sturdy and I liked the shape and size. I felt that the pedestal style looked nice in our space as well. I decided that rather than spend a ton of money on a new dinning room set that I would try to save the one we had. Especially because buying anything new with toddlers in the house seems a little silly!
Here is the before and after:
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Before
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After
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I was debating the project when I came across a set of 4 chairs at goodwill that I loved! It was just what I needed to revive our dinning room set! They had simple clean lines, were very sturdy, and had a great curved seat. The best part was each chair was only $ 2.99 each! For just $12.00 I had the perfect chairs to add to the sturdy table that we already had. That was just the motivation I needed to attempt my first furniture refinishing project!
I wish I would have gotten before pictures of the chairs, but they were sort of an ugly blonde color. I took the chairs outside and sanded away with an electric sander to remove the finish. I used that tack cloth to remove excess dust and was ready to paint. Next I added a layer of dark wood finish using a spray can. Not sure if this was the best idea, but I do love how it turned out. The wood finish spray took days to dry, and I am not the most patient! Next I sprayed the table and chairs completely with black spray paint. I used a quality spray paint (not the cheap $1 kind) and was able to cover the table and chairs nicely in two coats.
I have to be honest, and am probably breaking the first rule of re-finishing furniture, but I did not sand down the table first. I just cleaned it well and added 2 coats of black spray paint. (I’m sure the finish would have been better if I would have taken the time to sand it down but with 2 little ones I honestly didn’t have the time!)
I let everything dry completely and then got out some sheets of sand paper and distressed the set to my liking. I sanded all the corners quite a bit to give it a really distressed look. I sanded all different directions and pressures until I liked the finish. I ran the tack cloth over everything again to removes sanding dust and added a good coat of a clear indoor outdoor lacquer to seal and waterproof everything.
I love the way the table turned out, and was very proud that I was able to save the table and a ton of money! A year later the table top looks great for all of the abuse that it takes! I think because of the distressing that I did you really don’t notice any imperfections. This table fits our house so well and has so much character! For very little cash we now have a totally unique dinning table that fits our needs and has tons of character. I added some chair cushions with ribbons to mix some fancy in with the distressed rustic paint job. I will show you how I made the chair cushions soon!