Kitchen Table & Chairs Set Refresh

Last year I participated in a pop-up Vintage Market with some friends, which I shared here.  Well, I had planned to refresh my kitchen set to sell at the Vintage Market and replace it with a more Frenchy feel set for our home.  Well best laid plans… we ended going in a totally different direction and I could NOT be happier.

 We bought this set back in 2000 from Ethan Allen and it was part of a Swedish collection.  Before this last total refresh, I have changed out the upholstery once and we had it refinished once, which I guess is not bad for almost 20 years.  It was | is a great set but I was ready for a change.

Here is the before picture, where you have seen quite a few of my tablescapes.  My plan was to paint the base and chairs in Annie Sloan Old White and have a raw wood top to sell at the market.  Unfortunately, whatever product was used, when we had it refinished after the kids outgrew their destructive creative stage in life, had a strong yellow undertone and it got stronger through time.  Originally it was a beautiful cream finish {you can see it in the matching hutch in the background since we never had the hutch refinished}.

As I started to sand down the top, Mr. Masterpiece became intrigued with my project.  Keep in mind that the paint finish on this set was somewhat of a lacquer type of paint.  Like I said, the original finish was beautiful and also great to wipe down as a kitchen set, BUT not the easiest to remove.

As we got further into the project we realized how beautiful the wood was underneath.  Who knew?  I do know Ethan Allen produces high quality furniture and this was just a bit of confirmation I guess.  Well, little by little Mr. M took over the project and finished the top, including the 18″ leaf.

By the time he was done I wasn’t sure I wanted to get rid of it.  We decided to stain it with a gray finish and between the wood grain & the gray stain, I fell in love.  We stained it with Varathane Wood Stain in Weathered Gray.  It became a great farmhouse table and it was not going anywhere.

I painted the base and chairs AS Old White as planned and I sealed it with AS clear wax as well.  And to finish it off and really give it a farmhouse vibe we reupholstered the chairs with some grain sacks I had kicking around.

I am so happy how it turned out!  AND it wasn’t even planned.

I am a total sentimentalist and have a hard time parting with things so the fact that I had come to terms with letting go of this set was HUGE for me.  This is the first kitchen set {& only kitchen set} we bought, this is the kitchen set our kids learned to eat on {& thrashed}, this is the kitchen set that is staying in our house.  No parting guilt here.

We breathed new life into it.

I canNot wait to share some tablescapes, stylings, recipes and more on this “new” table set.

“I’m going to make everything around me beautiful and that will be my life.”

~Elsie de Wolfe~