My Dining Room Table & Chairs–Painted White

UPDATE:  Read about the book feature for this project {here}.

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:

You can read about my DIY painted curtains {here}.

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:

At first I was going to sew slipcovers for them, but after sewing a slipcover for our dog’s crate (see that post here), I realized that my sewing skills are pretty bad and the resulting slipcovers would likely look crappy.  So I decide to figure out how to reupholster them–the seats would be easy, but I’d never done anything like the backs before.  At an impasse, I decided to start with the table, so I could enjoy quick results.

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:

 

I love the shape of my chairs, and was excited to see how they turned out.  One hint when recovering chairs is to keep the cushions with the correct chairs; they are not interchangeable because the nails on the bottom will want to match up with their original cushions.  The back panels on my chairs were held in place by four screws, just like the seat cushions, although they were covered on the back with wooden caps (you can see those in the top picture).  I had to pop them out with a flathead screwdriver to get to the screws.

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.

I then washed, dried and ironed a 4′ x 15′ canvas painter’s dropcloth (I buy them here) to use as my upholstery fabric.  My staple gun got a HUGE workout–my hand is still sore–as I covered the stained cushions with the canvas.  The seat cushions are simple, and I’ve recovered cushions like that dozens of times in the past, but the back cushions were trickier.  The fabric had to be cut exactly right, with no extra to hang over and show.  Instead of sewing cording and using that, I bought gimp trim at Hobby Lobby (it took exactly two rolls for all six chairs) and glue gunned it into place.  Here’s a close up of the gimp:

I used a neutral color, but if I had used a different fabric it would be fun to use a bright, contrasting color.  Maybe I’ll do that the next time I recover them.  And yes, I have Scotchguarded them thoroughly, because I’d like to avoid recovering them again for another few years!

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:

And the back:

I love how it turned out when I transferred the ink (and put the nail hole caps in place):

 

The room seems like it’s done now:

I found a huge, barnwood tray at C’est Moi (that’s our local store that sells AS chalk paint), and love how it looks on the table:

And while I’m tempted to paint the buffet as well, it’s not damaged, and I’m just not sure.  What do you guys think?

Here are a few of the items I used for this project:

Paint color on wall:  Sherwin Williams Fawn Brindle (mixed half strength)

Paint color on curtains:  Sherwin Williams Fawn Brindle (mixed full strength)
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As always, thanks for stopping by!