My BIG summer project- a new schoolroom table

Usually when summer hits I have a long list of fun projects I’d like to do as well as a list of summer activities. This year, since I was so sick most of the first part of the year, I think I was making up for lost time. I put a lot of the project plate and when all was said and done some projects have moved to the “fall project” list. I managed to finish one really big (to me) project on my list though and our family will benefit from it for years to come. Yay!

One of things I have been wanting and looking for for quite a while has been a school room table. It couldn’t be too big or too small. It had to be the right shape and durable. It also had to fit the decor in the school room. I looked and looked and the tables I was finding were either too much money or not exactly what I wanted. I tend to be pretty picky with certain things. This was one of them. I ended up going to some thrift stores and that gave me the idea to buy a low cost table and refinish it.

Bright idea right? I thought so. I had never refinished anything like that in my life. I have built a full size bed frame out of wood before (of course with my Dad’s help) but never stripped paint, sanded and repainted a piece of furniture.

I thought that this would be a quick two week project and really that it would take no time at all. I mean after all I saw pinterest ideas everywhere and it only took them two weeks to do a project like this right? No way. I was deceived!

I purchased the table from a person off craigslist and I think it is actually an antique drop leaf table. It also came with four chairs. I will tackle refinishing those in another lifetime! No really I will try and get that done in about a year. No rush on those. Here is the table before. (I had already started disassembling it when I realized I needed to take pictures.)

 These puppies will be getting refinished at a later date. I just could not do them this summer. It would have taken me 300 more hours. I picture these to be the same color as the finished table with fluffy red tie cushions on them.

Here is the beginning of the table being stripped of it’s paint. Many, many hours went into sitting on the concrete floor of the garage with goggles and mask on stripping away at the yucky white paint.

One of the funnest parts was picking out the paint. I had never done that before either. I learned A LOT. I was so grateful for my Dad’s help (who was a general contractor most of his career and is an expert in all things building and more.) He guided me through what I would need for this project. He also helped me choose paints that he knew would be durable (for little boys sitting at a table and doing school work on it almost everyday) and wipeable. I know marker or paint was bound to get on it and I wanted to make sure I could just wipe it down with a damp cloth and it would not be ruined.

I started the project in May and finished it one week before school started at the end of August! I didn’t work on it every single day but pretty much every week of the summer I was doing something with the table. I learned a lot and it felt like a wonderful accomplishment in the end. For the red I had to paint three coats on everything and the blue needed two coats. It really required some perseverance and there were many times I was thinking, “What did I get myself into?” However, now, we have a sweet table we can use for our school room for years to come and when the school season of our life is over I can use it for a craft table. I don’t think I will ever get tired of the colors because blue and red are my two favorite colors. I also really love the drop leaf part of it. It works so well in our school space because we can make the table big or small.

Here I am putting the table back together in the school room

Here are the before and after photos: