Very nearly a year ago I shared my dining room in progress in this post. Since then, I added new slipcovers to the chairs, and kept avoiding the big job of painting and staining the dining table.
I didn't feel like the black table base worked with my cottage style, and the table top was incredibly red-toned. That being said, painting the table base white over black was doable, but it seemed like quite an undertaking to sand down the table top. For starters, the table is decently heavy, and in order to get in the garage to sand would entail dismantling the table and schlepping it out the front door, through the yard, out the picket fence gate, around to the driveway, and finally, into the garage.
I felt tired just thinking about it.
So, time passed. The slip covered chairs looked okay. I mean, they were fine. Really, perfectly fine. Just not zippity-do-da-these-are-the-chairs-we-have-been-waiting-for fine, but fine.
Except that they didn't add that warm cozy look I had anticipated they would add to the room. They looked a bit too formal for our little cottage, if that makes sense. That, and (...and this is the bigger issue) we apparently are rather sloppy grown ups. Every time I would look at the chairs, I would find another little blob, or smudge, or spill and I would have to run and grab my upholstery spray cleaner to get rid of the latest spot. (This was a challenge that had never occurred to me when choosing slipcovered chairs.)
Anyway.
Time passed.
I was down at Camas Antiques adding something to my booth when I saw three fabulous (to me at least) butter yellow wicker chairs. I stopped dead in my tracks. They were exactly what I wanted for the dining room. I asked at the counter if there were more of the chairs, and low and behold, there were indeed three additional chairs downstairs.
I needed to think about this. After all, I had already been through two different sets of chairs that were wrong for the room. I went home to think on it.
I went back a few days later and got them. Unloaded into the garage, they waited patiently for the big moment they would be brought in and placed in the dining room. You see, I knew I wanted the table painted and stained before the chairs could come in.
Yesterday was that day. actually, I began painting the table base the night before, and had Ralph help me flip it over to paint, then stand it back up when it was dry. (Right there in the dining room, because it seemed like too much work to move it to the garage...) All that was left was to sand the table top.
In the dining room.
What was I thinking? Was I thinking?
By the time it crossed my mind that this was not a good idea, I was too far into the project. There was no turning back now. A fine coat of sawdust blanketed literally everything in the room, from the ceiling to the floor. (At least I had the sense to close all the doors in the hallway and to the kitchen...)
It took me all morning to sand the table top, and the entire rest of the day, into the evening, to vacuum, wipe down, and wash everything in the living and dining rooms.
I guess it's a good thing I am doing a month of spring cleaning, right?
On another note, I think I am happy at last with the table and chair pairing! Here is a parting shot of the room from the kitchen doorway....
