Table make over

The week before Thanksgiving I couldn't get it out of my mind that NOW was the time to refinish my 

much in dire need-ugly-scratched-dirty-boring table and chairs... 

much to my husbands roll of the eyes.  The more I thought about it the more it had to get done!!  It's a disease really!  The "I-have-to-do-it-now" disease!  You see about 6 months ago (in the warm summer months; the ideal time to do something this large) I got the genius idea to start and I sanded one chair and it has sat and sat.... sad and lonely in my garage all of this time.  

So before we left for Arizona for Thanksgiving I contacted a girl from church who refinishes furniture and she was able to sand down all of our chairs while we were gone (totally worth the $100 for 5 chairs; do you see all that detail?!?!?) and when we got back I dedicated 2 weeks to refinishing our table, painting and re-upholstering our chairs.  Here are some of the before/after pictures!  

I'll admit it was a HUGE pain... but thankfully the first few weeks of December were unseasonably warm and I was able to get it done relatively fast.  I'm hoping I don't have to refinish it again for a loooooong time!  I guess technically I don't "have" to re-do, re-finish anything... it's just part of who I am I guess.  So, here is to kicking the new year off with a fresh start!

Our chairs have been thrown up on, peed on, had spilled milk, and food of all kinds on them... they were screaming out for a replacement so I did just that!  Good riddance is all I have to say!

That quarter sized white spot is paint that got accidently removed from leaving a cotton ball of acetone on the table (apparently a big no no!) well over 2 years ago (when I originally was going to refinish the table) and I couldn't be more happy to have that gone now!  The style worked for us 5 years ago... not so much now... you can see why it was time for a face-lift!

Just a little glimpse of the BIG mess.  I used a spray gun for the chairs and it worked like a dream (totally worth the money... it's my new favorite tool!) and I sprayed the base coat on the table and legs and then I hand brushed the rest of the table.  It was quite the sight!

A photo at night.  I need to take some photos during the day all set up nice with my centerpiece, but below are some that I took while it was inside drying before we started using it.  Now... what to do about that darn light over the table... I see another project coming on!

I chose two types of chair upholstery.  I love the yellow/mustard color (fabric from Home Fabrics for $10 total for 4 chairs).  I paired it with a faux ostrich vinyl type fabric for the end chairs ($20 total).  It's hard to tell from the photos but the chairs are actually a light grey and they compliment the creamy table quite well!  I really love it!

You can see the grey a little better in this photo above.

I distressed the table top because I didn't want to be the mom that stresses when anything hits or bumps my "perfect" table.  It works great for a family with 4 small kids!  Overall I couldn't be more happy.  My kitchen looks bigger and it fits the style of our home more!