The first weeks of summer are when I get projects done. I think it goes back to my days teaching, and waiting for summertime to conquer my projects. 9 years ago, my husband and I bought our first (and only) house. We felt the need to fill it with furniture even though we didn’t really have the extra cash to do so. One of our first purchases was a new kitchen table. A kitchen able should be something you invest money in because it takes a lot of wear and tear. We did not… It didn’t take long for our new table didn’t look new anymore, but we just lived with it.  Perhaps you’re in the same situation. Well, if you are, keep reading!! A few months ago, I was browsing pinterest and this picture came up. I immediately fell in love. I desperately want a farmhouse table, but I know this house isn’t our forever home and don’t want to invest the money until we move. This project looked so easy- paint and slap some wood on top (my husband is a woodworker so he could help).

Much to my disappointment, my husband pointed out that the grooves in that table would be a magnet for crumbs and the other gunk that our toddler leaves behind. So, back to Pinterest I went for new inspiration and I found this-

I loved the contrast of the chairs to the table. Our kitchen walls are painted a light blue, our cabinets and floor are a dark wood, and I have orange accents in the kitchen. I considered orange chairs for a pop of color, but didn’t like the way that looked with the floors and cabinets. Matching a blue to coordinate with the wall would be too difficult, so I thought I’d play it safe and just go with grey. When I googled grey chairs/white table, this picture came up and I knew we had a winner.

I went to Lowes and bought some supplies, 4 cans of Valspar satin spray paint. It’s a paint plus primer and seriously the best. I did a couple of coats of the paint on the chairs. All of this was done the Sunday before Memorial Day. I woke up, told my husband- “hey, I think I’m going to start the table project”, and by dinnertime the chairs were painted. He’s come to understand that this is how I work. I get an idea and run with it. While we were at Lowes that morning, I picked up several (ok, probably 30) paint swatches for different greys. We decided on  “armitage grey” from the HGTV Home collection by Sherwin Williams. Monday night I primed the table. I had primer left over from my guest room makeover project last spring, and Tuesday I painted the table grey. During all of this, we ate our meals in the family room. 🙂

I let the paint dry a couple days before I put on 3 layers of polyurethane. I needed durability, and didn’t necessarily want a lot of shine, so after talking with the wonderful people at Lowes, I went with a semi gloss. It went on really easily and the smell was almost nonexistent. Best part is, it dried in 2 hours! They recommend 48 hours before using the table, and 7 days for it to fully cure, so we continued to eat in the family room through the following weekend. The final touches were placemats and seat cushions. I loved the grey and white, but it needed some color. I spent probably $60 on painting supplies for the table and chairs and felt I could splurge a little for cushions. I am so glad I did because I LOVE how this turned out.