Green With Envy....The Kitchen Table Makeover

Last week I was driving by a local consignment store and felt the urge to go in, but they were closed!  Later that night we were on our way to a restaurant that just happened to be in the same complex so it was fate...I had to go.  This time they were open!!  They were closing so I told they lady I would run around quickly because I knew exactly what I was looking for....a round table for my eat-in kitchen.  Guess what I found??   A round kitchen table!  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but then when she told me it was on sale for $50 I told her I'd take it.  The leaf was missing, which was fine with me because I needed it to be small.  The table was solid wood too and HEAVY!   I had originally wanted a table with a center leg and claw feet, but after I saw this table I changed my mind.   Next day Hubby and I came back and picked it up.  I couldn't wait to get started.  Our current table was way too big for the space we had so a round table was a necessity.

Here is the before.......

OOOPS!  Yes again I started sanding and took the legs off before I got a picture!  You get the picture, right?  The table was old, covered in spider webs and in need of some serious TLC.

These are the legs...Well 3 of the legs.  The fourth was already painted before I took the picture.

Right before I started this table I saw a post on Pinterest about making your own chalk paint.  I had tried a previous recipe for chalk paint before and I wasn't happy with the results.   The Annie Sloan paint is the best, but at $35, plus shipping for a quart I wanted to see if there was another version out there.  This recipe called for 1/2C hot water, 1/2C Plaster of Paris, and 1 1/2C of flat, latex paint.  I was really unsure so I figured this would be a good place to try the paint since the legs and only part of the top and apron were going to be painted.  I made the paint and used it on the table and I'm happy to report that it turned out great!!!  It was very similar to the Annie Sloan and went on without sanding nicely.

Here is that fourth leg....are you surprised at my color choice????  Green!  I have to explain something, I'm not a green person at all.  It's usually a color I shy away from, but I had fallen in love with an Annie Sloan color called Antibes, which is similar to this color.  This is a Behr color called Happy Camper. Isn't the name so cute??!  I was definitely a happy camper when I put the first coat of my homemade chalk paint on the leg.  

Here's a picture of my homemade chalk paint.

After I sanded the top down I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  Stain the top, but not the edge.  After I started painting the edge I wondered if that was such a great idea!   It was tricky to get the paint on and not get it on the table top, but with a steady hand and some patience it all worked out.  

This is how the top looked after one coat of paint and 2 coats of stain....Rustoleum Ebony.

This is how it all looked painted with 2 coats of paint, but I wasn't finished yet!

I gave everything a coat of clear wax, then lightly distressed the legs and the edge of the table.  Then as you can see on the leg on the far left, I put a coat of dark wax on top to darken the green color a bit.

This is the finished table.  I really like the color!

Here it is all put together and in it's spot in the kitchen.

This is the reason I picked this color.  These are our drapes in the kitchen (Simone from Pottery Barn).  There's green in the rug and green in the drapes so I knew it would all tie together nicely.

This area feels so much bigger now.  I love it when a plan comes together!  Now we can sit four comfortably around the table.  The best part about doing these projects is when Hunter says how much he likes them.  He gets so excited every time I finish working on something!   I forgot to mention he helped me sand the top of the table.  It makes my heart sing when he gets interested in the things I'm doing and we can work on them together.   I'm happy with how the table turned out and look forward to many family dinners sitting at the table together.  Now who wants to come over and cook these dinners for me?!  :-)


**** Linking to:

         The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday  http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2012/05/frugal-friday.html