So I was given a challenge by my son. Now that he has a family he wanted to get rid of his bar high table with 2 chairs. He wanted to get a real table so they could sit down as a family and have dinner. He knew all he had to do was mention it to me and I would be all over it. He was right because I went into action really fast. He told me on a Friday and by Saturday I had snagged a solid wood oak table for $10. Now all I needed was at least 6 chairs. Off to my storage unit for an afternoon dig.
In storage I found two of my favorite trash trolling finds. These chairs had great bones but were so ugly.
I also pulled out two of the chairs that were left from my daughters dining table redo. We only used 4 of the 6 so these were put in storage.
I pulled two other chairs that were very old and vintage. They were given to me by a friend that no longer needed them. The backs of the chairs were very damaged so I planned on using the base to make a bench. OOPS!! Forgot to take a before picture. This pictures shows them already painted black.
I gathered all the other supplies and on Saturday morning Greg and I started the redo. The catch to all this was he wanted to surprise Ali on Easter Sunday with the new dining set. WHAT! my kids sometimes think I’m super mom. I aim to please and excepted the challenge. When you have to do something quick no way will you have time to hand paint. I went with flat Valspar project paint in black. Spray paint dried really fast and that is what I needed because I only had 1 day, yes 1 day to get this entire dining room set up cycled.
You might think all these parts and pieces don’t really go together, but they do. Once you paint them all out in the same color and give them the same finish it works. I started by preparing the chairs. I removed the seats, wiped them all down and cut the backs off of the 2 chairs for the bench. I set them all up and went from one to the other spraying them. While they dried I sanded the top of the table. The wood under that badly damaged top was so pretty. Most people never let their kids use the nice dining table for fear they will mess it up. I’m of a different thought, a well-loved table is a table that has had family sitting around it. Table tops can be redone later in life after you make memories. At the same time I sanded the wood I bought for the bench top. I stained the table top and the bench top sitting them aside to dry.
The only painting left was the table base. Once it was all dry I sanded off the edges for the shabby chic look. I attached the bench top to the 2 chair bases making sure they were balanced on each end. Only 2 steps left and this will be a home run.
First coat of clear finish and then steel wool all over to get it smooth. Second coat went on smooth and dried really fast. I texted Dallas and ask him what color of fabric I should get to recover the 4 chairs with cushion seats. He said black, gray or navy. Really son the chairs are black so no black or navy. Gray it was and Hobby Lobby had this perfect fabric. I had to add cushion to them using batting and then wrapped the fabric. As I finished each chair the table starting to look like it was alway meant to be together. I loved the final set.
The cost of this table in total was $100. Shocking I know but here is the break down. You can see that I had a lot of the items already. So the cost was minimal. Table $10, Chairs Free, bench top $11, Paint and stain $44, Fabric $20, Sanding pads $15 and the Grand total is $100. and change. There is always those taxes.
I hope my son and daughter-in-law set with their daughter and hear about her day at this table. I can imagine Lyla coloring or doing homework at this table. I pray they sit and have many dinner conversations at the table as they watch her grow. I’m glad I can do these things for my family. New isn’t always better. Sometimes old has the right amount of character and love from the pass. Making memories at this table will be a very Blue Happy time.
