Kitchen Table

I mentioned to my parents that over the next few years I hoped to pick up a few more kitchen chairs. I didn't care if they matched. 

My parents called me the next day and said they had found a table and six chairs on Craigslist. 

At first I didn't plan to keep the table because I had two others. Jared came up with a great plan to chop the legs shorter on our old kitchen table and made it a coffee table. The other table I had was going to be the schoolroom table, so this one was promoted to kitchen table. 

However, the top was a bit scratched up and there were some paint stains. I made all that worse by trying to clean it. So I grabbed the sander and stripped the top. 

I sealed and refinished the top with some extra supplies leftover from our hardwood floors. Now we have a table top the same color as our floors. 

I was just going to leave it that way, but I found a can of old tan trim paint in the garage. I knew we would never use it. I am trying to cover up all the tan in our house, not add to it!! I started adding some acrylic paint and seeing what color it ended up. I was hoping for a bit darker more colonial blue, but I ran out of blue. 

I had smeared some on the side to test it when it dried, but still wasn't convinced it was what I wanted. Jared came home and remarked how much he liked the color and the rest is history. 

I sanded down the base a bit and primed it. It only took one coat of blue to cover it. There is still half a can left to touch it up when the boys scratch it up. :) 

I really love the top. It has six coats of poly on it. Hopefully, that keeps the boys from destroying it too much. 

The other table (which I am in the process of refinishing now) was a dark old oak table from 1903 (it is photo bombing the picture where Warren is looking at the camera). I didn't realized how much lighter the kitchen nook would look with a table that reflects light. 

As you can see I didn't put the work into refinishing the chairs. That would be too little reward for the work. 

Do you have any furniture that fits the space well, but you don't like the color or stain? Have you ever painted or stained furniture to make it a color you liked better?