Mama Reworks It!: Ugly Table to Pretty Table

I found this really, ugly table at a thrift store. 

It was $7.00.

I believe I've mentioned it before. 

The paint job was pretty awful, but I liked it's shape. 

But mostly, I liked it's price. 

No, no. Mostly I disliked having supper in the floor. 

The paint on the legs was caked. 

It was layer after layer of bad prep work. 

I should have just striped the whole thing, but didn't think to pick up any stripper at the store. 

So after about 3 hours of sanding and scraping, it was prepped.

In the name of good prep work, I even primed it. 

Twice.

Since I plan for my kitchen to be varying shades of white, I needed a pop of color. 

I decided PEACH would be a safe bet. 

(I know, on what planet is peach ever a safe bet?)

Because choosing colors tends to overwhelm me, I gave Charley 3 sample paint cards,

all in varying shades of peach. 

Charley gave it some thought, and quickly decided this was the right shade....

I was so impressed with her choice. 

I went from not having any idea which of the three to pick, to knowing it was the right choice. 

After I got the table just perfect (you know "perfect" is my specialty), I left it outside to dry. 

For the night. 

I did it on purpose. 

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

And it didn't rain.

But, apparently, in these parts of Virginia there is A LOT of moisture in the air. 

And when that moisture came out of the air, it settled into deep puddles on my tabletop.

When I went to wipe it off, the first three layers of paint came with it. 

So, I. had. to. paint. it. again.

Oh. my. gosh.

I. was. so. upset. 

I. am. going. to. keep. putting. these. periods. after. each. word. for. effect.

Ok. I won't.

Then I coated it with some ultra shiny polyurethane. 

I think it turned out real nice.  

I decided not to shabby chic it to death because I got to thinking about how all of my stuff (5 pieces of furniture including 1 very small side table & 1 kid's table) actually is real-life shabby after the big moves. 

A little shine is nice. 

P.S. Back when I lived in Alabama, I found that chair you see there with the casters, at a thrift store. It was less than $5.00 and super ugly. It had dark blue vinyl padded seat and back covers and the metal was battleship gray. While at the store, I, all super sly like, lifted the chair covers and found this beautiful shapely wood and rolled it to the register.

I left the vinyl on to serve a paint shield and blue taped up every inch of wood that was still visible. It was a time intensive job that I remember doing in spurts when Charley was happy in the sandbox. I sprayed it white, then all I did was pull off the tape and vinyl. 

Originally I had two chairs, but Chuck pressured me into giving one up when we moved. Yes, you did, Chuck. 

The other chairs were found on a trip to visit the Georgia in-laws. I actually got them at a....wait for it.....furniture store. Crazy. So un-like me. At first I only bought one because somewhere in my warped brain, I thought if I started a collection of mismatched chairs, it would offset the conventional means by which the first was purchased. I just had to be different (i.e. difficult). But, in true, be-an-inconvenience-to-all-by-being-indecisive-Hayley-fashion, I decided that I would go ahead and purchase another one to match, so we had to make time to go back another day. I'm glad we did too. The chairs are well made and sturdy enough to support our big-boned family (snort). While I tend to gravitate toward vintage, I've found that vintage dining room chairs are generally too small and unstable for our family. People musta had smaller bones back then.