Table Re-Do

When hubby and I moved into our first house, his parents gave us an old dining set to use. At first, it was meant to be a makeshift temporary nook table but as time went on, I found out that hubby is secretly very attached to the table. This dining table belonged to his parents and they've had it for over 20 years. This table has been well loved and the finish has worn to bare wood in many places over the decades of repeated use and wiping. Long scratches mar the surface and the style is most definitely of the 80's variety. There was hope though--the set was solid hardwood which made it durable, light, and best of all, refinishable. (Is that even a word?) I digress. The chairs were still in good condition--the finish was still shiny but the cushions were stained in some places. As a compromise to replacing the set altogether, hubby agreed to let me refinish it and re-upholster the chair cushions.

Now...I took construction in high school and loved it so I had some idea of how to proceed. I didn't have a lot of the tools for a truly professional looking job but luckily, the "craftsman" style is in so a few nicks and bumps along the way just adds to the character. Here is the before:



Most of the wooden furniture in our house is a deep brown and leans more towards the classic/romantic look but there is no way that I could give the little table a deep stain and still have it look legitimate. It'd look like it was trying too hard to be something it is not. No...I examined the table further and realized that it has some Pottery Barn-esque possibilities. Small. Cute. Shabby Chic. Kind of like this:



Oooh...when I see this, I automatically thought of summer and sunshine. All this torrential rain makes me long for sunshine. So I thought...what if I painted the set white and redid the cushions in a summery yellow like this?



After some hemming and hawing, I decided to go for it. It doesn't really match or serve as a cohesive transition from the great room to the kitchen, but it's such a cute little table. Here it is, after 2 full days of sanding, priming, painting, glossing, and covering.



I'm hoping I did the right thing. There is no question the table needed to be refinished but I'm not 100% sure the white & yellow works inside. It'd be great for the outdoor patio that I am dreaming about though. It's too late to redo it now and I'm too exhausted to even contemplate another go around so I guess we'll just keep it as is.

Total cost: $20
Time spent: 25 hours

The breakdown:
Paint: free, all leftover from previous owners
Brushes/Supplies: n/a since the brushes were leftover from previous painting projects. Sure got our moneys worth!
Sunbrella outdoor mod yellow fabric: $20