Dining Room Table Makeover

I am incredibly excited to reveal the "new" Dining Room table today!!

BEFORE:

The Dining Set was the first one I ever purchased when I moved out on my own for the first time.  It's served me well the last 9ish years, but the glossy, dark espresso like finish had started chipping and peeling and it was looking a little worse for wear.  Plus, the "espresso" was really more of a cherry now and I just wasn't really feeling it anymore.

 

 

 

Sure it looked good from far, but definitely far from good!

 

So I usually tried to mask a lot of the wear with a centerpiece and/or some type of table linens. 

My recent desire to lighten things up had grown stronger and stronger....

 

I wasn't exact sure what I wanted the new table to look like, but I knew that starting with a clean slate would be the best place to start.  I had toyed with the idea of painting it a glossy white, or possibly staining it a light grey, kind of like a whitewashed finish.  But I figured we'd start with the chairs sanded down and see how I like it. 

 

Since I have a very strong aversion to sandpaper, I had to enlist the efforts of my mom to do the  sanding. She got the chairs done one at a time, over the last few months since she would just take one back home with her every time she'd visit.

 

Once all 4 were complete, I really liked the look!

 

So this week she came to visit to tackle the table.  We initially thought it was solid wood, unfortunately, just the legs were solid, the top had a veneer on a pressed board finish, which meant it chipped off very easily. 

 

 

 

One side is still a fair bit darker than the other, where my mom thinks the stain might have been left on a little longer. She was hesitant to keep going too much on it, as she was worried she'd just gouge the table surface far too much.  I actually don't mind it too much, plus figure that it'll wear down a bit with plates and everything rubbing on it. 

 

 

It looks a lot lighter in person actually....

 

 

I was a little leery at first but now I absolutely LOVE it!!

 

 

Its super rustic looking which I love. 

 

 

 

I quickly added a little burlap runner and simply placed a few new fall décor purchases for the meantime. 

 

AFTER:

 

I'm thinking eventually I will want to coat it with a wax or sealer just to protect the top. But otherwise, I like the new look.  It has drastically changed the look of the Dining Space and I'm super happy about it!