Operation FALLOUT: Repurposing Dining Table

Our home is rather strange in that it has two dining rooms. That's not entirely the strange part. The strange thing about having two dining rooms is that they are right next to each other. If you are going to have two dining areas, at least separate them a little, right? It's weird, but what I really cared about was the fact that it was also ugly. 

See. Ugly. 

Luckily it just so happened that because we were redoing the "formal" dining room right next door and giving the kitchen a facelift, so we had no choice but to redo the "informal" dining room as well. A brand new coat of paint and new trim made a huge difference.

See. Not ugly.

But it was still missing that essential part of a dining room ... a table. As fate would have it I was explaining my predicament to a co-worker. Our "formal" dining room (hard to keep them straight, I know) table was the first thing Ben and I bought as a married couple. Since the one I had prior to graduating college I found on the side of a road, we splurged and got one we loved. However, we didn't feel like doing that twice so I was going to start scouring roadsides again. My amazing co-worker had a better idea. She asked me to come get her old table out of her garage! Score!

How perfect is that? It's even round to fit the bend in the window! We loved it, but it needed a little love after receiving lots from her children when they were growing up. So we decided to restore it. We'd already done the staining thing and this had so many nooks and crevices, we decided to try the paint route. So first I sanded the top. We got a primer that didn't need sanding, but the top is the focal point, so I wanted it to be primed and ready before the actually priming began. Seems redundant, I know. 

Next we had to get it inside the house. Unfortunately it was too big to fit through any of the doorways except our sliding door all the way around the house. But I married an ox of a husband!

He even waited for me to run around the house looking for my camera so I could take this picture! Best!

After I sanded the top and Ben found a way for it to reside inside our home I got priming.

We used Zinnser primer. I had heard good things and only have good things to say about it. However, it's not like other primers. This stuff was like super glue. And being the messy painter I am I found it in my hair for weeks after. Advice: wear a hairnet :)

Chairs before.

Chairs with primer (and Instagramed).

 The worst part about this project was how intricate the chairs were. So many rods and curves and carvings. It killed my back, but Ben is brilliant and turned them upside down on a stool so I could continue painting with less backache. It still wasn't an easy process. And then I had to do it all over again with paint!

For paint, I choose an enamel paint. It's what we should have used on the cabinets as well because it dries much harder, which is good for high traffic surfaces, such as a table top. Finally you can choose to top it all off with a wax. Wax is good because it keeps the moister from say a cup from getting to the paint. It's also cheap and might save you from future sanding/priming/repainting jobs down the road. 

Finally we added a new light fixture, some wall art, and curtains (which I found for $9 each at Target! Just hemmed them along the bottom and love them!) to make our "informal" dining room complete!

Totally different look from our "formal" dining room, but I love it. This feels comfy and cozy, while the other room feels ... well ... more formal. Hope you like!