~Farmhouse Table~

The Farmhouse Table Makeover Story....

The "Farmhouse Style" of decorating has taken a surge in the interior design of homes in the last few years. I believe one of the reasons for this trend is from the insanely popular show, "Fixer Upper" as seen on HGTV. I myself, have watched every episode, at least a few times, and can't say enough about the very talented Joanna Gaines, the co-host and brains behind the home designs on the show. I think another reason this style has been so popular in interior design, is because the "farmhouse style" can be incorporated into other design genre's like Country, French, Coastal, Shabby Chic, and Traditional; to name a few. This sort of transitional design element can be used throughout homes to blend all those styles together seamlessly.

Although I don't have a lot of farmhouse style in my home, I was eager to tackle the design on this table to match some of the designs I have seen lately on Pinterest. Here is a look at the before:

Now, I have to tell you the story behind the table and where I got it. A few weeks ago, I got a call from my Aunt Barbara, who I absolutely adore! She was looking to replace her current dining table, (cue the "farmhouse table"...shown above), to a bigger dining table that matched her current hutch, which she had just repainted. She had also recently repainted her dining room and chairs to give the room a coastal look. When she called, I had just been shopping at one of the antique shops I frequent and had spotted a table that I thought might work for what she was wanting for her newly remodeled space.

Here is a look at the table we chose to refurbish for her new coastal dining room:

I sanded it down to get rid of the high gloss finish and repainted it a soft white by Shermin Williams called "Pure White" to match the color of the hutch.

Here is a look at the table once it was finished and in place.

She was still refinishing some of the dining room chairs but as you can see, the table fit the design and other furniture perfectly! I'm loving the color of the soft sea green walls and white furniture which gives the space a tranquil feel. Isn't it all so beautiful? I was so happy to be able to paint a piece of furniture for her home! Since she didn't want the other dining table, she gave it to me to refinish.

Oh boy! :)

The table top is a butcher block style of planks that have been milled and pieced together. It was covered with a medium oak stain and had a high gloss poly finish. In my opinion, the current color and finish really hid the natural beauty of the wood, so I decided to sand it down to the bare wood to see what it looked like.

Many months ago, my Aunt and I had talked about some really neat gray wash/stained farmhouse tables with white legs and once I started on this baby, those Pinterest faves came to mind. I already had some gray stain by MinWax called, Classic Gray and decided to try that on the top.

It's interesting to me that sometimes different woods stain differently. One of the main reasons for stain turning out differently, is due to the type of wood and how porous the wood type is; which allows the stain to penetrate. After one coat of the gray stain, I was very pleased and decided to stop there. I could have put another coat on, but I liked how you could see the a lot of the wood grain through just one coat.

Next, I sanded the shine off of the legs and painted them "Summer White" by Shermin Williams. I made the latex paint into chalk paint with my DIY recipe. If you would like to use this recipe, you can find that here.

After the table was stained and painted, I used Annie Sloan's clear wax to seal the table and give it a nice satin finish.

Here is a look at the finished "Farmhouse" table:

We are selling this table in our shop at Daisies & Olives Antique Mall in Prairie Grove, AR. I was on a pretty tight time constraints to get this table over to the shop, so I ended up taking the pictures there when we set it up instead of staging at my house, like I normally do.

You will notice in the picture above, a painted mirror (behind the table), which was another project that I finished last week. The mirror was something my hubby brought home to me one day that he picked up for $10. Unfortunately, I did not get a before picture, but it was a plastic mirror in a honey oak color that was horrid! I decided to use the aging process of different spray and chalk paints to give it an aged look.

I also used Miss Mustard seed's White Wax inside the crevices to give it some age as well. I love how it looks like an expensive wood mirror that has been around for ages now, as opposed to a cheap plastic. Tres Chic!

After we painted the mirror, we jokingly called it the "Magic Mirror" because it looks like something out of a Disney Movie. :) I had a lot of fun working on these projects for the last few weeks!

Next week, I will be showing some of the dining room updates including the refurbished and reupholstered dining room chairs. I may even decide to paint the dining room...we'll see! You never know what could happen when I get ideas in my head!

Until next time.....

I will leave you with this quote by Alfred Hitchcock, which is curious, indeed!

"Ideas come from everything!"