Kitchen Table makeover

When we moved into this house we moved in with a table we purchased at the DI (Utah's Goodwill) for $50. It has 3 leafs to expand it, nice wooden legs with decorative carvings and a dark veneer top which I did not like. It reminded me of the table we had when I was growing up in the 80's.

I decided that I was going to paint the veneer white like the walls so it would make the kitchen seem more open. It worked for many years and we had quite a few compliments on our table.

After quite a few years, and a few more coats of paint to touch up over the chips, stains and marker or paint from the kids' art projects (I didn't use a sealant)....this is what my table looked like:
Notice the paint peeling off of the veneer on top, and if you can see it, my kids' art projects ended up on the wood underlay of the table.

The table still worked great, I still have kids that do art projects on it, so buying a new table was not logical. We just had black granite counter tops installed, so I did some research and decided to do this to my table:Amazing right? I L-O-V-E my table!!!! And since this photo I have 2 toned the entire house, so it looks really nice against a tan wall.

So here is what I did:

1. Sanded and scraped off as much of the old paint as possible. I also sanded and stained the wood underlay to get off all the paint and gunk from the sides and legs.
2. Painted the top with WATER BASED primer. I used a roller, I found it does not leave streaks like the brush did. and let it dry.
   
3. I then Painted the top with WATER BASED HIGH GLOSS color shaded black from Walmart and let it dry in between coats. ( I think I did 2 coats)
   
4. Top it off with a WATER BASED HIGH GLOSS sealant.

**When working with primers, paints and glosses, it's important to use all Water, or all Oil based products. Since my table was going to have food on it, I used the Water based versions of all three. It says on the can whether it's oil or water based. *You should not combine a water based primer with an oil based paint.

The top sealant coat makes the painted table very durable and makes wiping things off the table easy. It's water based paint so we don't have to worry about it contaminating our food and it looks brand new.

I used Minwax Polycrylic protective finish sealer:

This make over cost me right around $20. I have a unique beautiful table. The thing I like about remaking old stuff is that is something were to damage it, you can touch it up, and if you can't you're not out a ton of money.

It's amazing what a little paint can do. ☺


*Come back and visit Thrifty 101 on Thursday for our DIY Thrifty Thursday Link Party!