Refinished Dining Set

Hi everyone!  I'm back, as promised!  It has been one hell of a week and I am so looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend!  My sexy self has been on vacay for awhile and she plans on making a return after the holidays.  Until then, I'm going to stuff myself silly!  Mmmm... turkeeeey...

Anyhoo, back on track!  Last Monday,  I had given you a sneak peek of my dining set I had found at the DI.  Here's the story on this beautiful piece ( I usually always have a story about my trip to the DI ), a few months ago I had spotted her looking so lonely and tempting at the end of her aisle.  She had a tag that read, "Antek table, $300.00."  After I had gotten over the fact that they spelled Antique wrong, I sadly walked away because I was not about to spend $300.00 at the thrift store!  After a few weeks, I noticed that no one else was biting at the price either- it was still there begging to be bought.  You wanna know what did change?  The price.  It had gone down to $175.  Wow, that was a big drop, but still I had to snub her.  Another few weeks passed and I was so sure that someone saw this table in the same light as I did: stunning.  To my surprise, she was still there!  I thought to myself, "If it's down to $50.00, I will buy it!" and low and behold it wasn't $50.00, it was $15.00!!!!!!  I snatched that tag off before the lady behind me was even able to look over my shoulder to peek at the price.  It's mine!  All miiiiiiine!  Bwahahahahaha!  I must have had a crazed look on my face, because she backed away ever so slowly.  Sorry, lady!  Better luck next time!  I packed the table in the back of the Rav, drove out of the loading area and went back to work.

Isn't she purty?  There were markings on the underside that read: Made in 1935.

I took her home later in the day and realized my dilemma.  Aww crap, now I have to find some chairs!  I had a counter height table with bar stools to match.  That was not going to work.

Before:  Boring and cheaply made dining set from Target.  Looked like everyone else's dining room.  *Yawn*

So on the hunt, I went!  It took me a couple weeks, a little bit of haggling and batting of my short asian lashes to take home a four chair set for $20.00 from the DI.  These chairs were just aching for a makeover!

Hi!  My name is fugly! (Just like this garage floor)

Once I had a complete dining set, I went straight to work on it!  I sanded the top with the electric sander and lightly sanded the rest of the table with a sanding block.

Check out how awesome the grain turned out to be!  No way I'm going to hide nature's design with paint!

I gutted the chairs and painted them white.  No glaze this time.  My goal was to make the table the main focus of the dining area.  I already had the fabric for the chairs, so there was no need to make a trip to Joann.

Here it is, my new dining set with a fabulous vintage lamp, also from the DI for $3.00.  I went with the same Glidden White paint as the chairs and stained the top with a MinWax Weathered Wood stain.  Beware!  That stuff stinks so bad when you apply it!  Do it outside or in an extremely ventilated area and leave it there for a couple days.  P U!

Dimitri couldn't resist a photo op!

I have now moved onto my current project:  Kitchen revamp.  It just does not go with the dining area!

I really hate the odd shape of that island counter.

Keep your eyes peeled for my next post:  It's Christmas (yes, already) in the Smitten Household!

~*Abigail*~