You all are stuck with me {Christy} for a few days, since Terry just had her baby boy on Saturday {CONGRATULATIONS!}, and Amy moved this weekend and is removing wallpaper borders, painting and unpacking {maybe we should all say a quick prayer for her?!}. I just sent my beloved aunt and uncle on their way, after a very fun visit, and wanted to show you my dining room table and chairs in a little more detail than what I posted on Facebook.
After my dining room updates {here} and {here}, things were almost done, but I have been seriously tempted to paint my table and chairs for about a year now. My double pedestal table is crooked, thanks to the last movers we had (I think they were crushed on the truck), and there are deep gouges and scratches on the table surface. Since it was a lovely piece, I didn’t want to get rid of it and start again, but I know that paint and distressing is much more forgiving of our transient lifestyle.
Here’s the “before” of the table:
I Scotchguarded the chairs way back when, but years of children and pets took their toll. Here’s a closeup of one of the chair cushions so you can see just how bad they were:
I used two coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Pure White, and even though the directions say you don’t have to sand, I did lightly sand the tabletop only, because it was so glossy. Here was the table with two coats of paint (no wax, yet):
The Pure White looked so bright and clean that I nearly stopped here.
But then I remembered that the movers will distress my table and chairs this summer no matter what, and I figured I should continue with the dark wax and sanding.
I’ve never waxed furniture before, so this took some figuring out. I used Annie Sloan’s clear wax, then a little tiny bit of dark wax, then sanded, then put clear wax on again. The reason you put the clear wax on first is that it lets you play with the dark wax a bit; instead of soaking right into the paint, you can add some, lighten it up, and get it the way you like it. After it dried, I sanded a bit, and even added a little more white paint in a few areas that I thought were too dark. And yes, I painted the two leaves at the same time. Here’s how the table looked when I was done:
Once all the cushions were removed, I gave the chairs the same paint and wax treatment that the table had received.
The medallions on the side looked great with the dark wax bringing out the details.
Here’s the front of the chairs, finished:
I had a little gray chevron fabric left after covering the piano bench, and sewed a tiny lumbar pillow for one of the two armchairs. The insert is just a down one I found at Goodwill for $2.
If you follow on Facebook, then you saw pictures of this process along the way. One of the reasons I used the neutral canvas fabric was because I had a plan for these chairs–they were going to get a monogram using Citrasolv to transfer the ink to the fabric! Read how that works {here}. I printed out a couple of “B’s” on my computer, using the Monogram font, and taped them on the front and back. Dozens of you voted, and while it was pretty much even in the end, I decided to put it on the back.
Here was the front:
The room seems like it’s done now:
Paint color on curtains: Sherwin Williams Fawn Brindle (mixed full strength)
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As always, thanks for stopping by!