Dining Bench Completed!

Here is how I finished it!



It matches quite beautifully.

Here it is before the paint and stain. See this Post
And here's a sneak peek at what we are working on now. Any guesses?

To see the beginning of this project go here. The plans were based on Ana's at Knock Off Wood.

Big Reveal!!

Can you guess what we built today?


It's our new dining room bench! We got the plans from Ana at Knock Off Wood. Except her plans were for a 54 in bench so we modified it and made a 6 footer.
Now I just have to figure out how I want to finish it! I would love suggestions.



This is what my dining room looks like (well a few months ago actually). Now I need to tie in my rustic country bench and shabby chic dresser. Did I mention I found this table and chairs for $50 on Craigslist! See this post on my dining room.

And instead of the armoire I now have this blue buffet/dresser- see here. I am actually going to redo this look on another longer dresser I found recently. Ahh shoot me.

But I think it will be good, because this time I think I will leave the top brown to tie into the table better and darken up the blue a bit.
I love all the colors in this fabric.

No I am not afraid of color- but don't want to over do it.
Should the top of the bench be stained dark brown with the bottom painted blue/turquoise to match the dresser?
Should it all be stained to match the table?
Should I paint the chairs and bench a distressed black? Maybe with a little blue peeking though?
Should I refinish all my pieces?

Oh the possibilities! What would you do?

A Table That Will Last

I finally refinished my kitchen table! What I thought would take a Memorial day weekend ended up taking a week. Mostly because I took extra care to make sure it would be durable. It was worth it though cuz it is beautiful and I am so happy with it now!

Here is my table before. Not too bad and pretty flowers but too much brown for me.

And with 7 good years this is what it looked like close up. Eww!

This is my kitchen and I thought a cream color table would stand out from the floor and the brown leather couches on the other side and brown drapes on the other side. The cream would also tie into the island bead board, bar stools and ceramic accents.


Creamy goodness close ups.
As you can see I sanded and lightly glazed for the antique look. And with this high traffic table the antiquing will hide any nicks and scrapes the kiddies might make.
Here are the steps I took to make sure this table will stand the test of time.
1. Sand off the polyurethane (shiny finish). The primer will stick better. You can also use a deglosser product.
After I sanded I rolled on 2 coats of Kilz primer (brushed the bottom).
After the primer rolled on 2 coats of Creamy Cottage by Behr.
Then I sanded the edges with my power sander.
Next is glaze. I like Ralph Lauren glaze. It is thicker than most which is better for furniture. Most are thinner which is better for walls. But sadly Home Depot is clearing it out and replacing it with a Martha Stewart line.
Before
During- I wipe on with a brush and wipe off with a damp rag.
After- gets in the grooves for antique beauty. Allow to dry completely.
Then I polyed 3 coats for an extra tough protective finish. Brush on and wait 2 hours between each coat and 24 hours to fully dry after that. For a cream or white table you have to use water based poly. Which is called polycrylic because regular polyurethane will yellow over time.

Now I have to do all that all over again for my chairs. Wish me luck! After that I hope to tackle the kiddie table and chairs and make them different fun colors.



UPDATE:
I used a flat finish paint. This way the glaze and poly adhere better to it. Because the paint is a flat finish I didn't see the need to sand between coats like some do.

The glaze I used was Lowe's asphaultum antiquing glaze. I only recommend using this if you are putting a poly over it. It is thinner and doesn't seem to dry 100%.

If you use Ralph Lauren Glaze, the Home Depot guys can tint it for you. But warning it is being discontinued! You choose the color tint you want. I prefer a brown tint.