Re-Finised Oak Table

We have a very small dinning area in our house. There is only one dinning area and it is right infant of the slider to the back yard and we have a big rectangle table in the space. It has always felt cramped, so I have been pinning round tables on pintrest for quite a while now. I finally got inspired enough to buy one on Craig's List and refinish it myself.  

I choose a more simple table because I tend to get impatient with little details. I also needed one with a leaf so when guests do come over, we have enough space for everyone to eat. After months of looking at tables but not feeling motivated enough to actually buy one and after it sat in my garage for about 1-2 weeks, I started sanding away.

I thought it would be so easy with the puppy, she loves to be out front so, I thought I could just tie her up to the the long leash and she would enjoy smelling and watching everything. Unfortunately, I forgot how much she loves to be right where I am ever second of the day.

Luckily, the sanding was pretty easy and the kids wanted to take Roxy on a nice little walk. I love when they can be helpful. Too bad it's not more often. 

I choose Kona stain for the top and the same white (white dove from Benjamin Moore) for the bottom that my kitchen cabinets are done in.

Here is my table without a center piece. It fits perfectly in the spot!

The table was actually very easy to re-finish! However I still have some finishing touches on it. I want to lightly sand the white, add one more coat of pain then put some polyurethane on it. I ended up choosing an egg shell to have more of a matted look, but everybody that see's it seems to think the satan would look better.

The problem is, now that it is in my house, I don't want to take it out again to do that little bit. Maybe I'll get motivated next week when it is not either over 90 out or raining.

It also works well as a sewing table!

More Chairs to Spruce Up!

After I finished the easy chairs, I was very anxious to get started on these bigger rocking ones. I love the chairs, but they look so awful with all that rust and pealing paint. To prep them, I cleaned them up and chipped off the pealing paint, that's it. No primer this time.

I also loved the blue color I used for the other ones, but I thought it would be too much of the same so I picked a color that matches our umbrella on our patio away from the pool. It's a deep read color. This is the color I choose, it's called, Colonial Red. If you want it, just click on the color and there is a link to amazon for it.

The color looked a little overwhelming when it was all over the plastic too! But once I put it by the pool, I absolutely loved it. These chairs took a lot more paint and were more of a pain to get in all the hard to reach spot, but overall, it was still a very simple job to do.

I may even like it better then the turquoise, it's actually appropriately called, Seaside and you can get that color by clicking here.

But, I don't think it would have looked as good without the seaside chairs.

I think this color really complements everything around the pool, the pictures don't really do it justice. Plus the yard is a little sad in these pictures after the dog napped on top of the bushes.

Sprucing up some chairs

I had these old chairs around my pool. They were functional, but not very pretty. So, I decided to spruce them up a bit. 

I had to wash them off and since it is almost 100 degrees out, I didn't have to do much work on drying them. I did have to knock off some chipped paint also.

L and I primered the chairs and little table first.

Since I love pops of color and we have a pool with turquoise water, I decided to go with "seaside" for the chairs. If you want the color for yourself, you can click the color name or click here.

I love how they turned out. Nice and bright and clean!

 

The old chairs blended in so much that I forgot I had 4! I just noticed the other 2 in my yard this morning and quickly painted one more. I need to go get more primer for the other one.

I left the table white for a little contrast. (Again, you can click the color for the exact paint) They also have it at any home improvement store in the white. In the end, I ended up using painting 3 chairs and a table, I used 3 cans of primer, 1 can of white, and 3 cans of seaside. I have some seaside and white left over.

I have 4 other metal chairs that are bigger and rock. I am thinking a different color for those. Maybe a rusty red to tie in the pavers on the patio outside the pool. Feel free to let me know what you think for a good color to add!

Farmhouse Bench

Finally, it's hear, the bench to go with the farmhouse table...

The bench was much quicker to make. Mr. C did the top just like he did the table. It turned out perfect.

Here is everybody working on the stain.

We distressed the bench a little more then the table top and I really like the way it turned out. We finally got to use our table with friends. It was so nice to have a nice comfortable dinner at the big table while the kids all sat in the other room at the old table. Now, I just need some chairs to match.

DIY Farmhouse Table

I LOVE the Pottery Barn style tables.

Actually, I love the Pottery Barn style everything. But, I especially love the tables. They are just so darn expensive and I really can't spend that kind of money on a table with 2 small children. I want to actually be able to use the table. Anyway, I knew a table wouldn't be that hard to make so I was trying to get my father-in-law to make me one, when my husband offered! I couldn't believe it, I've asked him so many times to make me furniture and he never wants to. Now he is so into it.

He showed me this table he was going to make. I loved it, so he got right to work.

We picked Douglas Fur for the wood because I really liked the grain in it and thought it would look really nice stained. I wanted the table to be very basic.

Here is how the stain turned out. C really loves helping daddy!

The table looks really nice all stained, but it's not quite finished, Mr. C wanted to put those metal straps in it to give it a little extra character. I thought it looked fine the way it was.

Mr. C was right, I love it the way he did it.

Final cost was a little over $100.

Now, he is working on my bench, hopefully it will be done by this weekend. I don't have any chairs either. I'm looking for mismatched, matching chairs from thrift stores.