You Gotta Have A Little Vision

It always amazes me when people part with family heirlooms.

Especially when it has good bones.  I mean it’s good for me and all, there is always a good supply of stuff for me to rehab but good bones go a long way in design.  You just have to see it, have a little bit of vision and a gob of elbow grease and you can bring that piece of old furniture from to your Great Aunt Martha right around to being current and beautiful.

Or in this case…….Scott’s Granny.

This maple  dining table belonged to a good friend of Big Daddy’s.  Apparently he was purging his entire life.  The first picture I saw of the table I could only see one of the legs barely peeking out from a pile of stuff on Scott’s basement.  As and avid Leg Girl,  that crappy photo was enough for me.

Scott was also kind enough to haul the table and several other pieces of good furniture over to my house.  The first thing I did was  take the leaves off and save them for another use.  They seem to really overpower the scale of the table.  Next I mix up a bucket of soapy water and went to town cleaning all the table’s surfaces and allowed it to dry completely.

There wasn’t much finish left on that top.

 It actually took me longer to get those big leaves off than it did to sand and stain the top.  I chose to stain this maple top in Minwax Dark Walnut and I must say it was the correct choice.   I jus mixed the stain up really good and wiped it on with a piece of an old white T shirt.  It could not have been ant easier.  I have stayed away form oil based wood stains for a while now and I’m not sure why.  I’m thinking it’s time for a change in my protocol around here.  This maple wood took that stain so well!  Plus it was infinitely easier on my arthritic hands:)

The other change I made was to used a new top coat.

Of all the stuff I find on Facebook Marketplace, this score was probably the best.

This partially used can of wipe on top coat was one of the items in two big boxes of furniture refinishing supplies I bought for 20 bucks!  I am serious as a heart attach.  I will share more about the contents of the boxes later but suffice it to say it was General Finished Heaven!!!

Legs for days on this one.

Ya’ll, I am stone, cold in LOVE with this finish .

I painted the table’s apron and legs in two coats of General Finishes Empire Gray Chalk paint and I am pretty sure any darker color would not have done this top any justice.  In my humble opinion the top is definitely the show here.

Thoughts?

And I really like these wicker chairs from Walmart with it.

This is a smaller farm table, seating 4 people but it is big on legs.

When I removed those big heavy leaves from each side of this table it left this nice detail on each side.

The dark walnut stain give the detail a nice effect.

 Happy Sunday & thanks for stopping by !

Paige