Sarcasm and Sparkles: Shabby Chic Dining Set Makeover

Well hello!
This past week I have been very busy redo-ing a dining room set for our new apartment! It was nothing too intense, but as it was my first time doing anything remotely this extreme, I certainly learned a lot.

The first being, make sure to take a "before" photo! I only have a "before" pic of the chair because silly me, thought I'd already taken one of the table. (Well I didn't, oops.) Overall, I think it turned out great and I am ecstatic to bring it into our new home.

White, light, and airy

Imagine the whole table was this woody oak, because I don't have a picture to show you.

Basically, I started by sanding the table and chairs. I found that a hand sander worked really well for the table top, but the other bits needed more attention with some elbow grease and sand paper sheets.

Next, I cleaned off the sanding dust with a wet rag and let it dry. It was about five hundred degrees outside so this took about 3 seconds. Then I began spray painting! I went through about five cans on just the table. Spray painting is definitely an art. Spray close enough to evenly coat the object, but not too close so as to create drips.

Once the paint was even enough to cover the wood grain and completely dry, I went back to the sand paper. I hand scraped the edge of the table and chairs making sure to let the wood peek through just a little bit. I did this in every area that would succumb to normal wear and tear like the table feet and the sides of the chair back. This way, the distressing looks as though this could have been plausible wear simply from regular use. I did some super light sanding to the table top as well just to incorporate the peek-a-boo wood. I finished it all off with a few coats of polyurethane to seal in the color and help protect the wood.

As for the upholstery, I literally just unscrewed the cushions and gently peeled the icky black and tan pattern fabric off the pad. Then I roughly measured my new fabric and stapled that bright yellow baby onto the cushion. As I am probably the clumsiest person alive and I have a small, very naughty puppy, I decided to cover the cushions with a clear, protective vinyl. It takes away from the clean look of the table, but fits my lifestyle much better.