Painting Dining Room Table

[caviar918]

I'm new to the forums so this topic may have been discussed before. Has anyone painted their dining room table? I have a pine table that is really starting to look bad. I would like to paint it white -- maybe distress it a little. Can anyone tell me the best way to accomplish this? I'm slowly redecorating my house and am going for the comfy beach cottage look. Thanks to all.

[yarborough house]

Hi this is what I do almost every day. I re-do furniture 99.9% of the time in the white shabby, distressed, beachy look.
You have two options:

First off do you want it white with a bit of distressed natural wood showing through ? Or do you want it just white all over?

If you want it distressed and a bit shabby looking then you need to NOT prime it as you will want the old tables finish to come through when you sand. That being said you do this:
1. lightly sand the piece to give it some tooth for the paint to adhere to.
2. then decide on what paint finish you want to use: I prefer flat with no sheen but some use a satin paint.
3. paint the entire piece with the paint and give it about 4 hours to dry
4. Then grab some sandpaper and lightlly sand on edges - or where turned areas are or any raised areas to show where normal wear and tear would have taken place. You can do this by hand or by handheld sander -whichever you feel comfortable with.
5. Now this step is optional- if you want it to look not so bright white and add an age to it you can get some glaze (which is clear glaze and you add a small amount of brown to it or you can buy it already mixed). You wipe it on with a rag then wipe it off - it will go into the crevices and the newly sanded areas and lend some age look to it- it is totally optional though.
6. Now you are done unless you want to seal it with a poly - if you do a poly layer then choose matte sheen as most distressed furniture is not shiny in the least.

If you don't want any distressed areas to show then just paint it with primer first then about 2 coats of paint then poly.

One thing you can do that looks really nice is to paint the apron and legs white but then stain the top in a nice walnut color- very nice and not so much white- also helps if you have kids and with keeping the top white.

Hope this helps...

[caviar918]

Thanks. This is a great help. I can't wait to get started. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[ChapterTwo]

caviar918 - Welcome to the Forum!

I'm in just about the same place as you. I have my original dining room set from when I got married ('75) - it's dark pine, and I'm gearing up to paint everything white.

I have my brother visiting for the weekend, so hopefully next week I'll get started. Good luck, and I hope you'll take before/after photos. I will too!

[shabbychick]

Tammy, if you put on a clear glaze that you don't add the brown to, does it just tone down the brightness of the white? Or would you just not add the glaze at all if you didn't want the aged look? Have you ever tried adding a different color to the glaze (like green or pink)? I'm wondering what that would do, but I'm too chicken to try it.

[yarborough house]

A clear glaze would probably do nothing as it is clear..You can add other colors to the glaze..
I have done only brown on furniture though. I have bought the Ralph Lauren smoke glaze but it is a brown/gray base.

I have used a color on my sons walls when I did them when he was a baby. I wanted them to look like a chamois cloth. It did good - a browny -golden color was added.

I think if you just wanted to tone down the white a bit maybe you could add a very little bit of gray or even a cream to it..
try it on a small piece of wood. When you paint your table paint a two by four then when you buy a quart of glaze mix like a table spoon of color to 4 tablespoons of glaze in different cups using different colors then try it on the wood.

Let us know what you decide to use- that would be fun to experiment.

[RoseMary]

Hi caviar~welcome to the forum! Be sure and post some pictures of you table when you're finished!

[mac78]

A table is a type of furniture featuring a flat and stationary horizontal upper surface used to support objects of interest, for storage, display, and/or manipulation. The surface must be held stable; for reasons of simplicity, this is commonly accomplished by support from below by either a columnar "base" or at least three columnar "legs".

No shit Sherlock, what do you think we are a bunch of dumb broads here. Go away and sit under your table with 2 legs and count how many seconds till it falls on your stupid head. Go away we don't want you here. :eek:

[shabbychick]

LOL. Don't take it personally, Marie. These guys just cut and paste stuff from the internet that is tangentially related to the topic so they can look, at first glance, like legitimate posters. I've already reported him, so I'm sure he'll be gone soon.

[RoseMary]

At least he was informative:p.

[mac78]

Sorry ladies,,,,,I was having a "smart butt" moment.....I know they are nothing by flybynighters.

[yarborough house]

I loved it Marie- it cracked me up. Keep 'em coming girl- we'll make you are in charge of smart assing the smart asses. :)