A Pottery Barn Style Table!

So I have this dining table… it’s been with me to college and back, and was bought WITH a sleeper sofa for only $200 in 2004! Well, now that it’s way out here in Cali, I’ve finally decided to give it the makeover that it’s been asking for all along… you see, my table would really like to look like this…

It’s from Pottery Barn… and it would actually match all the rest of my furniture.

And THIS is our table…

Kinda sad huh? I couldn’t even get a good picture of it.

My fear all along was that if I painted, it just wouldn’t look professional… that I’d end up with a clumpy, peely coat of ugly white paint, and I’d be stuck looking at it three times a day, and cry into my cereal bowl each morning. Why the fear of painting? Well, in my youth (or maybe 3 years ago) I decided that the dark wood cabinets & baseboards and the carpet in the upstairs bath of my parents’ house just HAD to go! Being a crafty person, I thought “I can do this! Easy! No prob!” So I ripped out the carpet, gave the cabinets & baseboards a coat of white, and stuck down some peel & stick laminate tile squares. I even changed out the hardware, the towels rods, and painted! “There! All done! Looks great!” Um…. Not so much. About a week later, the paint started peeling off the cabinets. The floor looked somehow half done… and don’t get me started on the white baseboards. My poor parents… they’re just so loving and encouraging! I don’t think they had the heart to tell me what an AWFUL job I’d done on the poor unsuspecting bathroom. This was my first attempt at repainting wood… and I was discouraged to say the least!

So this time around… Bri and I did just a bit of research before we dove into painting our one and only dining room table. We headed to Home Depot, and $20 later, we had what we needed! First, we took apart the table & benches completely. We spread out a plastic drop cloth and got to work! In order to get the smooth, Pottery Barn finish we wanted, we used extra fine sand paper to get rid of any shine left on our table. Then we decided on Behr’s new Premium Plus Ultra Paint & Primer in one, and were really happy with it! We grabbed a super soft brush, taped off the parts of the table we were leaving natural, and I got to work! I soon figured out that painting really thin coats, going against the grain, was the best way to get the coverage that we wanted. It took about 3 coats… we did one coat each evening, to insure that the paint was good and dry between coats. Here’s how it turned out…

We’re really happy with it! I couldn’t believe what a change a little paint could make to brighten up our table!

Look at that smooth, even paint! I was so happy, I almost jumped up and down!
What do ya’ll think?

Stay tuned… I’m gonna reveal the whole kitchen/dining room real soon! I’m soo excited!








P.S. I linked up to the fun linky parties over there --->