Part 1: The Hooker Ruined My Life
Remember this table? Giant, sturdy dining table made by Hooker Furniture Co. that I bought off Facebook marketplace for a mere $75? Well, that damn thing took over my kitchen and my entire life for TWO FULL WEEKS. "Why?" you might ask, it's just a table... Two words, my friends, oil paint.
Children shown for scale!!
See, I wanted to paint the table white, but I had to find a way to make sure it was durable. Painting it with latex and finishing it with polycrylic was out. I used polycrylic on my previous table and it was a HUGE mistake. Polycrylic is water-based, and it breaks down over time with repeated exposure to water. Think about how often you wipe down your kitchen table. Within a couple of years, my table was permanently sticky because the protective finish had been completely broken down. And trust me, peeling yourself away from the table on a daily basis is unpleasant.
Now, oil-based polyurethane would have held up to the abuse, and if I'd been staining the table, that's what I would have used. But oil-based poly has a tendency to yellow over time, and that is not a good look on a white table. Who wants to put in all that work for something that's going to look dingy in no time flat?
That left only one option- oil-based paint. I haven't used the stuff in about a million years and this project made me remember why. It has its good points- it goes on smoothly and has beautiful coverage, and its rock-hard finish is insanely durable. But oh man, it stinks to high heaven and takes FOREVER to dry. I had to wait a full 24 hours between each coat, and it took three coats for the base and four for the top. And my house REEKED the entire time. We all had headaches, and stuffy noses, and that was with a million fans running.
Disaster zone
It also meant that no one could go near the table for days. And since the table is gigantic, it meant that half of our kitchen was completely off-limits. Eating dinner on the coffee table got old fast. But that just took a week, right? What about the other week?
The chairs. The stupid chairs killed the second week. I had four chairs that I'd bought at a junk store years ago. I had painted them, distressed them, and recovered the seats. But after several years of use, they were more than distressed, they were downright destitute. Plus, I had two chairs I'd bought at Goodwill that had to be re-glued, repainted, and reupholstered.
Time for a facelift!
The original four had to be sanded- which took about two hours per chair. Then they each required three coats of paint- with a day's drying time between every coat. The Goodwill chair had been sanded but needed its three coats as well. (the other Goodwill chair is still sitting in the garage waiting for my husband to re-glue it. Technically, this project isn't even done yet!!) I reupholstered each in a gingham oilcloth, and finally, we could eat dinner in the kitchen again!! Just in the nick of time, because school was starting, and you cannot be without the hub of your kitchen once you have three kids in school.
It's been in use for almost a month now, and it's glorious!!! All spills wipe right up, and water rings just sit, nice as you please, until I get around to wiping them up. I am using placemats to avoid scratches from dishes, but the few we've gotten clean off easily with a magic eraser (without damaging the finish). We've had meals, homework, backpacks and everything else on the table, and it looks perfect. The process totally sucked, but the end result was well worth it.
Stay tuned for the Tale of the Tufted Chair....
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