New Blog. New Life. (for a sad old table)

So, I guess this is it. My first official post on our blog. I am so excited to be starting on this new adventure with my sis, Nat. I'm not really sure where to begin, so I am just going to get right to it and post my first DIY project... When I first dicovered the world of blogging in January, I'm pretty sure I spent 2 consectutive days in my pajamas & slippers, glued to my laptop screen :) Relate much?? Some of the blogs that first caught my eye were House of Smiths (everyone knows of Shelley's amazing pantry makeover!) and Vintage Revivals... hello, Mandi? She is so completely original. I loved everything about her blog, and after I saw how she could completely transform something blah to beautiful, I wanted to try it in my own house. It took me a few months to actually get up the guts to jump into this project...

We were in the middle of a move. I know, I know, I am hearing my husband's voice in my head right now asking me why I decided to start a huge project one week before we were scheduled to move. Well, logically because I couldn't bear the thought of moving our ugly table ONE MORE TIME.

This is a before picture of the table in our old house:

It is a "classic" early 2000's cherry wood and black table with the wavy backed chairs. I think everyone who was married in that decade has owned one of these. And really, it's not that bad I guess. But I was so sick of everything in my house being dark... stained wood, brown walls, tan tile, brown granite, etc. I needed something light and refreshing.

(Hence the move... we were moving from one rental - a gorgeous custom home, where we weren't allowed to change anything - to a smaller, older home that we can paint!!!) I wanted our table to be the first step towards a brighter, lighter space in the new house.

Anyway, before this becomes the longest post in the history of blogland, here is the result of many hours of labor (and 11 cans of spray paint!)

I love how it brightens up our kitchen and dining space... and the neutral palette gives me the option to add a punch of color wherever I'd like :)

Once I had the base coat of white finished, I knew I wanted to add something special to the table top. One of my favorite trendy patterns right now is... Chevron! I wanted it kind of subtle though, so I did a very large zig-zag (9 inches wide) and used a light gray paint.

With the leaf in my table, I have 3 lovely equal sections to work with... perect for creating my chevron design! I used the seams in the table as the center for each zig zag :)

{1} I measured and marked the edges of the table and seams at 9" intervals. Then I used a pencil to "connect the dots" and create the lines of the pattern. {2} I taped off all the lines with masking tape, and {3} painted every other section with my gray paint. (The color is Tempered Gray - Valspar)

To add a more aged look, I sanded the edges of my table and chairs, then added a dark gray glaze to everything! Here's one more look at the before & after:

I hope this inspires someone to give their ugly brown table a second chance at life :)

I'm linking this up to: Thrifty Decor Chick's Before & After Party!