Antique Dining Table & Chairs

When it came to my first attempt at a dining set...I jumped in with both feet! I found a great antique dining table (1920's-30's) with three leaves and six chairs at a local thrift store. The clerk couldn't believe that someone would have a audacity to try to paint one of the chairs with brown paint! I had to confess that I was going to paint it...but with a pretty color, and I promised to do a much better job!

This thing really was a triple whammy--paint, refinishing and reupholstery! The wood was beautiful, but it had seen much better days. I wanted to keep the wood table top and I was envisioning a young family sitting around it...banging silverware and sippy cups. I sanded, stained (ebony) and applied polyurethane to give the top a durable finish for those sippy cups.

The chairs were in rough shape, especially the cushions! The leather was scratched, ripped and brittle. And, the cushion was non-existant. Once I began to take the chairs apart, I caught a glimpse of the age of the set...the cushions were made from horse(?) hair! It was pretty gross! I also found a stamp from a railroad line on the bottom of one of the chairs. I couldn't make out the date, but the chairs had traveled from Ohio to Tennessee. I thought it was pretty cool!

I knew as soon as I bought the table and chairs what fabric I wanted to use (amazing upholstery fabric I had picked up on clearance at Ballard Designs about a year prior). I used ASCP (Duck Egg Blue...love love love!) on the chairs, and did the table base with Old White. I used dark wax to tie into the stain color and applied clear wax to finish everything.

Again, this dining table and chairs set is totally up my alley! I love the colors, the quirkiness, the dressy but casual...all of it! Thankfully, I found someone else who loved everything about it and purchased it to go in the dining room of their first home! It was also a special sell for me because it was the first time a total stranger bought one of my creations!