You know those simple pieces of antique furniture that are timeless and can withstand anything? Well this week’s makeover is about an old dining room table and it’s set of chairs. We had a client approach us and wanted us to paint her table for an updated look. After consulting on colors we left her to decide what she wanted while we anxiously awaited her decision! We were very excited to see what she would choose!

(Sorry we don’t have any “before”pictures – we didn’t have the room in our garage to set up the table and chairs together before we took the chairs to Kristen’s house.)

She came to us with a very interesting yet simple request – absolutely perfect for her set! She chose Annie Sloan’s “Old White” for the base of the table, and AS “French Linen” for the chairs. Then she told us she wanted to re-stain the top to match a piece already in her home. How cool is that! Two of our very favorite colors, while keeping the beautiful top a stain to bring out the beautiful wood grain.

We knew the top would be absolutely beautiful refinished and was excited to get started on it. To begin we stripped the varnish off, we thought that would be quicker than sanding it completely down. THIS is the stripper we used.

Once that was finished, we applied pre-stain, and then three coats of this color stain. Man was that exciting to see the wood come to life!

Then it was a quick two coats of the white to the apron and legs of the table.

Tip: Sometimes on these old pieces if you don’t clean then really well, or it has a reddish tint, Shellac is needed as a clear coat BEFORE paint. If the color bleeds through, stop painting and apply the shellac.

The hardest part of the set was the chairs…they had a terrible old varnish on them that was cracking and we knew we had to get rid of it, or you would see all the cracking through the paint. So – we grabbed the handy dandy stripper we used on the tabletop and got right to work! (Make sure to follow all the directions on the stripper for protection.) It worked best to use a metal scraper and we cleaned it up with the recommended cleaner.

Whew! That was a lot of work, but totally worth it! We then primed and painted all the chairs.

For durability of the entire painted parts we used a “Matte” sheen polyurethane and a “satin” sheen for the wood top.

And just see how beautiful it looks in it’s new home! Our client styled her table with a basket with deer horns inside. Love that!

It is so worth it not to throw away an old piece or to spend money purchasing a new set that may not hold up as well. But simple changes – like paint, make a world of difference and makes this set completely unique!