Dining Furniture Redo

Another furniture project! I decided since it had been 2+ years since we moved in, it was time to think about the dining room. I wasn't even sure for awhile if I wanted a dining table, since we have a great kitchen table that is huge, but after spending several holidays with lots of people in our home (and several times moving our kitchen table into the dining room), I realized it would actually be really nice to have one. So...I started scouring Craigslist! I knew buying new was out of the question. I cannot bring myself to spend thousands, but it's hard to find styles on Craigslist that aren't decades, or even centuries old - not as much my thing.

Well, I got lucky and found something. First I found a table. A couple was moving out of state and didn't want to haul it, and it was hardly used. They were selling it for $525 and it was well over $1000 new online, but being my mother's daughter I got it for $400. Score! It's not huge, but it's really wide which is what I was looking for and it fits our room great.

Next up was to find chairs! It thought maybe I'd look at chairs new, but had no idea they were $200+ EACH so that was definitely not happening. Finding chairs without a table proved to be more difficult than I expected, but I persevered! I found a whole set online but the table was in a terrible condition and I didn't want a china hutch, so I asked them if they'd be interested in just selling the 8 chairs and the server. They said they'd see if they got desperate enough, so I waited and they got back to me and said yes! I can't remember now what they were asking, but I ended up getting 8 chairs and a server for $275!! Steal! They are 20+ years old but super sturdy and big and great quality. I knew I'd have to redo them, but that was fine.

Here are some before pics of the chairs. Pictures are deceiving, but they were extremely scratched and scuffed and the covers were nasty and heavily soiled.

And voila! New stain and new covers. It was a TON of work, but they turned out really nicely. I went a little too heavy on the stain, which I regret, because they look a little more black than brown, but I'm not upset enough to redo them.

 They look really nice with the table too. We finished the chairs about 11:00 at night the night before our guests arrived for Eli's baptism weekend. It was a rush, but it was nice to be done! I finished the server later after I had recuperated.

Don't mind the camping gear in the living room.

 And here's the server! I'll have to get a pic of the whole room sometime. It's coming together nicely! And I've found that we actually use this table all the time now! And not just for eating. It's a great place to play board games (safe from Grace and don't have to be torn down for dinner), puzzles, kids activities, and more. We love it!