Dining Room Table

Yesterday I shared with you my dining room, but what I did not really cover was the new look of my dining room table and chairs. Over the last month or so I have given it a bit of a face lift, but I have been trying to get the right look for our dining set for years.

The oak table is one I inherited from my parents garage.  I love that is old.  Unfortunately the chairs that came with it were old, rickety and needing some serious repair.

 At the time it was easier, and cheaper to buy a new dining set versus repairing the 4 chairs.

We ended up with this number...

It is fine, but I was never really in "love" with it.  It just fit our need at the time.

However, when we got to our new place, I just wasn't feeling the rectangle and decided to bring up the round table, but use the new, more stable chairs...

As you can see both the wood tones and styles are just off.  So I finally bit the bullet and painted the table, which was something I wanted to do for years, but was just basically chicken to do.

Now I was happy with the table, but still not thrilled with the chairs.  However, I wasn't sure I wanted to go straight to the paint.  So I held off.

And as things happen around my house, one day I decided the top of the table needed to be sanded.  So I broke out the sander and got to work.

 And about half way through my sander broke....

Luckily, I have some pretty awesome neighbors who loaned me their sander so I could finish the job.

You would think that once the paint was off I could just put on a coat of poly and call it good.  I wish it was that easy, but I thought the color was still to red, just too oaky for my taste.  I was looking for a more weathered look. (I knew the red color would show more intense when I applied the poly, it is not as obvious in the picture).

I then used a bit of bleach, then some pickling stain.

Which I was still not happy with (no picture).  I then added a little bit of Jacobean stain over the top and then I was happy.

My table now sports a worn and weathered wood top, just how I like it.

After having the top completed, I knew that paint was the way to go for the chairs.  I am loving the Dovetail Gray color.  By painting it in this gray I am now OK with the shape of the chairs.

I may still be looking for new chairs...or not.  I will just have to see.

-Laurie