Table & Chairs

Well, I finally finished our dining room table and chairs today! We bought this set from our friends a little over 3 years ago, shortly after moving into our condo and when they were preparing to move to Australia. I'd thought about painting them all white or all red for a few years, then decided I'd like more than just one color. I knew they needed red to tie them in with the rest of our color theme, but was not totally sure what I'd end up picking until they were finished.

Four weeks ago we lined the chairs up to take them out to the Jeep, along with the disassembled table that Tom and Missy took apart, so we could strip the finish at my parents' house. We spent about 5 hours that day trying to get the finish off with a stripping product. It worked well on the table top, but didn't do much more than make a gummy mess on the table legs and chairs. We used a pressure washer to get the gum off, then took them back home for me to work on sanding out in our front yard. I spent about a week sanding, buying more sand paper, dealing with a tendinitis flare-up, and sanding again until the chairs were all smooth and clean.

I decided it would be best to paint the table legs first so we could put the table top back together and use it if we needed it. Next I primed and began painting and finishing the chairs. I had to take a break for most of last week because it got so hot and humid in our condo. I started working on the table top last Friday. I've had so much fun with it!

I used ideas I'd drawn in my sketch book and that I have seen on the walls in the Free People clothing store. I was scared to try it free-hand, but it worked well with the Decocolor paint pens I found! I finished the table top, coated it with a semi-gloss finish, and coated the chairs as well.