I've had this ugly but perfectly solid table and chairs set for years. I hated it but couldn't afford to replace it.
One day after living in the magnolia sea of a new build house I had enough, my craving for colour was too strong to ignore but I wasn't allowed to paint the walls yet.
I grabbed my sander and set myself against the table. I did the legs first as it means I can turn the table upside down without damaging the top.
After sanding all traces of varnish from the table I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove dust.
Using my trusty soft no bristle loss Harris brush I gave it 3 coats of paint, I used B&Q Colours Clear Ocean for the top and B&Q Funky Colours Dazzler for the legs.
After leaving the paint to properly dry and harden I then gave it 3 coats of Wilkinson's clear water based varnish.
Then it was time for the chairs, I unscrewed the seats and put them to one side. I used the electric sander to remove as much varnish as I could then do the rest by hand, you can imagine that took me a while.
Again I wiped down the dust and applied 3 coats of paint and varnish; I did the two carver chairs in Clear Ocean and the other 4 in Dazzler. I left these 24 hours for the varnish to harden before replacing the seats.
While I was waiting I removed the old fabric from the seats and reupholstered using strong wipe able oil cloth. I stretched the fabric tight over the seat and stapled in place with a staple gun.
All that was left to do now was to screw the seats back into place, put the chairs around the table and take some photographs.
Over a year later it still looks like the day I finished it despite having 3 kids and cats and giving it some very heavy use.
Written By Raven Carlton
Dining Table Makeover