Gray Dining Table~Before & After Story

A Gray Dining Table Makeover

~A before & after story~

I always get a little giddy at the prospect of making over a piece of furniture! I figured at some point, the feeling might subside but it hasn't so far and I've been doing this for 2 1/2 years. I usually can see what the piece will look like before I even pick up my paint brush. I love picking out the paint color or stain I'm going to use. I also love styling the piece, which is one of the determining factors in the makeover. Do I want the piece to look industrial, rustic, french country, etc? It's just a fun creative business that I sort of fell into by wanting to create style for my home on a budget.

Three years ago, I can honestly say that I never invisioned making it a business or earning any money from it at all. In fact, I probably would have laughed if someone would have suggested it. But I always had a yearning to fix things, create new things, and re-arrange things (which may or may not drive my hubby crazy). :) But in seriousness, now I can't imagine doing anything else! The fact that I can share it with all of you is just a really good bonus!

This week has been a little crazy (okay I'm not going to sugar coat it); it's been a lot crazy. My daughter has had multiple activities with her dance team and getting ready for high school! This will be her Freshman year and I'm not even sure how I feel about that, especially since she is my baby! (Insert crying emoji here) My soon to be college sophmore is going to be living in his first apartment and we move him in Saturday(tomorrow at noon). I had no idea how much "stuff" he would need but I am now well informed. All the last minute student affairs from getting parking passes, meal accounts, books, and renter's insurance, just to name a few was very time consuming. We also had family come into town to see us this Wednesday. We had a lovely time and it was a nice break from the mayhem of our schedules but then we were back at crazy on Thursday and today just making sure we have everything ready! I dropped my Freshman off at her high school orientation and my son is at the university this afternoon taking care of some other things to get ready for the year. Let me tell you, it's really nice to sit down and chat with you all and share my little corner of the world!

I did manage to paint a small dining table and 2 out of the 4 matching chairs and build some home decor items earlier this week. After they were done, I loaded them up and took them to Prairie Grove to my booth space at Daisies & Olives. I don't know if I have ever told you before, but the drive to D&O takes about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. Normally I enjoy the drive to the booth because my husband is often helping me move the furniture I am taking and it is a chance to spend a little extra time together. This week, I was not as relaxed and I was in a hurry to get things done so I could get back home and get other things done! I realized on the trip back that I was impatient and cranky. I found myself wishing that I didn't have so many "things"! I decided then and there that I needed an attitude adjustment and made a concerted effort to enjoy the time and just chill! Sometimes I really have to work at the process of relaxing with so much on my plate, but it helped to just focus on that for the car ride home. I joked with my husband that I would be total "ZEN" all week! It was a good laugh! :) I try!

Here is what I managed to get done this week! I tried a few new products that I will share with you along the way! I'm super excited about trying the same technique again, but here is a look at the before picture of the table! Now I must use the term "before" loosely because I was about 30 minutes into sanding before it hit me that I forgot to actually take the "before" pic! You can kind of see how it looked! :) The table top was a dark cordovan stain and the body as painted black.

The next step after sanding the top finish and the damaged parts off this little table, was to use a gray stain on the top. After the gray stain was applied and dry, I applied a second coat of stain but used dark walnut stain over it! I knew I would paint the legs a medium gray color and wanted more of a gray tone to the walnut stain. It was something that I hadn't really tried yet so I wasn't a 100% on the results; but I think it looked great for this table.

I duplicated the same technique on the chair seat with the stain technique of gray and dark walnut washes. I did remember to get a before pic of the chair! The before finish of the table and chairs didn't look bad, but the table top had some damage that could only be fixed by sanding down to the bare wood. I believe the new paint and finish brings it up to a more current style.

Here is a look at the finished products and the table styled once it was in the booth. I used the newest stained wooden serving tray that I built for a table top decoration. I used the gray stain on the serving tray to achieve the aged look, then applyed a white wash (poor man's technique is watering down white latex paint). The wooden serving trays are a hot item that are sold at the booth lately, so I make a lot of different sizes and finishes. They are fun to use indoor and outdoor and have a multitude of purpose.

Decorating an Antique Booth Tutorial - Maison Designs Home

Next week, I will share with you some pics of my son's first apartment and all the fun I had in helping him design it. I must confess, that although I didn't exactly beg him to let me help, I did have to convince him to let us help him set everything up tomorrow! :) I"m excited to get in there to do my thang and to take pics once it's finished. He built something really super cool for his apartment too, which I will leave a surprise for now! :)

Until next time, I leave you with this quote...