Dining Room Table Makeover

I shared last week that I recently moved into a new house and my plan for this house is to fill it with color. Lots of lots of color. The walls will remain light and neutral but I want the furnishings and accessories to be bold and bright. While I love the neutrality of the farmhouse trend, it just isn’t me and doesn’t fit my style. I like bright, quirky, and eclectic! I picked a palette of six colors that I want to use throughout the decor and started painting everything I own. One thing didn’t get any paint though … this dining room table makeover was all about removing the paint and letting the bare wood take center stage. While I know this makeover won’t suit everyone’s style, it’s one of my favorite furniture changes ever!

If you’ve read this blog for some time, you might remember when I got my new dining room table. When I first got it, it was a significant change from the table we had before and I loved the simple lines and dark color. But after a while it just felt too dark. The chairs blended into the table and it felt heavy, too formal, and too different from everything else in the house. And it scratched too easily. I didn’t want a table that required protection from the family!

When I bought my new house and made plans to turn the family room into a gathering room off the kitchen {I’ll share a full tour of this space when it’s complete}, I was torn on what to do about the table. I love the trestle style and I love the size of the table {it has two leaves that extend the table to fit a large number of people} but I knew I had to completely transform this piece to truly be happy with it. And transform it, I did. I hardly recognize it as the same table.

I decided to sand it down, get completely rid of the dark color, and see how it looked. If it was awful, I’d paint it a light color but if it was decent, I’d seal it with a matte veneer and let the bare wood be a contrast for colorful chairs in different colors.

Once sanded down, I loved it!

The wood has a prominent grain, certain areas are darker than others …

… and there’s a variation in the tabletop and the legs … but I love it all!

I surrounded it with a combination of seats: a bench, a few chairs from the dining room table {painted and recovered}, and a few chairs from the old kitchen table {also painted}.

I saw a photo of a kitchen table with bright chairs in a magazine long ago and I loved the way it looked, so welcoming and family-friendly.

The bright paint really shows the details in my old kitchen chairs and they look so different!

They’ll chip and scratch over time and I’ll probably just love them more {smile}. But if I don’t, I’ll give them another coat of paint and we’ll carry on.

I love this new space and can’t wait until it’s complete. In the meantime, we’re loving gathering at this table with family and friends … and I’m so glad I took a chance on sanding this table down!