Before and After - Mini Table & Chairs Get Striped!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010


A few months back my aunt and uncle gave me a little table and chair set for Roary's friend (just in case you were wondering, Roary is our golden retriever and Roary's friend is our future babe from Ethiopia). It's been sitting upstairs just waiting for a makeover ever since school ended and I've been on holidays. Oh, how I love summer vacation!


I knew I wanted the table and chairs to be white but I wasn't sure if I was going to add anything "extra" to add a bit of interest. Although we've requested either gender for our referral, we're fairly certain that we will be referred a little boy. So, I kept that in mind throughout the project.


First I gave the table and chairs a good sanding to remove some of the previous finish. Next, I primed the set with Fresh Start by Benjamin Moore.



Once it was primed I painted two coats of Benjamin's Moore's Simply White allllllllll over. It took forever and I got a bit frustrated. Between Roary walking by and shaking/flinging dog fur and bugs landing, squirming, and getting stuck in the wet paint I had about a million touch-ups.


Then, I was stumped. At first I decided to do polka dots all over the tabletop and chair seats with three colours: pale green, pale blue, and pale purple. I bought the paint, bought the stencils, and tried out some sample dots. I didn't like it. Then I contemplated leaving the set plain white but that would have been too plain. I thought about painting numbers on the seats of the chairs but that would have left the tabletop plain, too. Finally I decided to choose something that I knew I would love......

STRIPES! Okay, so I'm a bit obsessed with stripes. But they just look so darn cute all the time.

So I busted out my pencil, measuring tape, and sample size of Benjamin Moore's Gray Timber Wolf (same colour I used on my other tiny chair).






Once the stripes were done and thoroughly dry, I grabbed some sandpaper and started distressing each piece. To tell you the truth, even though I love the distressed look, I've never actually done it myself before. I was nervous. I had to sleep on it and gather up the courage to do it the next morning.


After the first swipe, though, I was hooked. At first I used 100-grit sandpaper and then I moved onto 220-grit sandpaper to smooth it out a bit.







I have to say that I love, love, love the finished product. The colours are tame enough that I can put the table and chairs anywhere in the house and it won't look too bright or too out of place. And of course I can put it in Roary's friend's stripy bedroom. Although I'm really hoping it won't be stripe overload in there. Hee hee!





P.S. I shared this project here:
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Make it Yours @ My Backyard Eden
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Piece of Work Wednesday @ Primitive and Proper

22 comments:

  1. Visiting from the CSI project! I love this little table and chair set. The stripes are perfect! I am a new follower. :)

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  2. This turned out GREAT! And how great that it was given to you, so it has a sweet story! I love, love the grey stripes...check out my grey room, 'A Swedish Intent' at http://threepixielane.blogspot.com/2010/07/swedish-intent.html. I am saying prayer right now for your future sweet, little baby! How exciting!! The grey stripes will certainly go in a room for either a boy or girl! Best wishes! Blog hop from the CSI project and a new follower!

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  3. I saw this on the CSI project and had to rush over! Grey and white stripes make my ♥ happy. . . and I LOVE how you distressed it! Nice work, girl! :]

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  4. It looks GREAT Sarah! I like that you did the distressed look too.

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  5. How adorable. I just picked up a similar table and chair set from a yard sale. I was going to leave stain it, but now I am thinking white may be the way to go. Love it!

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  6. wow!!! that is So cute and sooo belongs in my house! i have a little table and chair set in my fam room for the kids to play at and the chairs are white, but i haven't done a thing to the table. i may just copy you! :) love love it! and those colors- i am all over those colors!

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  7. oh, and i am your newest subscriber via google reader. :)

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  8. Awesome!!! Love the stripes and the distressing, great jog:) I didn't know you were looking to adopt, that is so great. We've always toyed with the idea when we ran into trouble having our own...we are still maybe considering it for later. Good luck!!!

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  9. Hi! I love your striped table and chairs. Really cute. I'm a sucker for some stripes too! I'm looking forward to see what else you do! Thanks for stopping by.

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  10. The table set looks great and I love the grey and white together.

    Blessings,
    Lisa
    www.trinity-house.com

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  11. FABULOUS JOB!!! I absolutely love the distressed look! You are rockin' it, Sarah!

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  12. I love it! You have inspired me to do something with our boring table and chair set :)

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  13. Congratulations on the CSI project top 10!! The table is SO cute!!! All that hard work was worth it!! Thank you for stopping by threepixielane.blogspot.com! See you soon!

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  14. Fabulous! I love the grey/white combo too... so many things just scream BABY and this is understated and will grow with him (or her) much better. Love love love it!

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  15. I adore the table you are extremely creative!

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  16. That is soooo cute; I remember my kids had a set just like that when they were little!

    S

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  17. How adorable!?! I LOOOOVE the stripes! They are perfect! You did a great job!!

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  18. i am so glad you linked this one up- i love this little set! who doesn't love gray and white stripes? obviously only people with my real taste.

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  19. That is soooo cute; I remember my kids had a set just like that when they were little!

    S

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  20. Fabulous! I love the grey/white combo too... so many things just scream BABY and this is understated and will grow with him (or her) much better. Love love love it!

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  21. The table set looks great and I love the grey and white together.

    Blessings,
    Lisa
    www.trinity-house.com

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  22. I love it! You have inspired me to do something with our boring table and chair set :)

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