Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Table & Chairs - Before & After

Here's a little before and after project Country Mouse and I tackled the other weekend. Country Mouse has this old folding table and chairs set from 1970 or so. And it had seen better days...

Nothing that a few cans of spray paint, oilcloth fabric, and a stable gun can't fix! Here's how we made this sad looking table and chairs set happy again.

First we dug around in the man room (garage) where nothing is organized how we would organize it, so it takes a bit of time until we find the perfect fitting tool, yay! We take these little guys off all the chairs and the table so that the table top and chair seats are removed and ready to be covered with lovely new fabric. Then we removed all of the old staples holding on the 1970's cloth with a flathead screwdriver. Then it went in the trash, bye-bye 1970!

With the tabletop and chair seats removed and staples out, we just needed to wash and sand any rusty spots and we were ready to paint. We found a great color to match our fabric - Watermelon by Krylon (indoor/outdoor - metal-wood-wicker-all purpose spray paint).

How to spray paint...Country Mouse reminded me that the key is to apply light coats so it doesn't get all drippy looking. If you end up with a few drips, just let it dry and then sand it and try again. No biggie. It happened to me a few times. We had to apply several coats to get a nice even looking color.

While you wait for the paint to dry in between coats of spray paint, admire your fabric and imagine how glorious this will look when you are all done!

After admiring the fabric, grab your scissors. Lay the seat over the fabric (think about the fabric placement and how you would like it to show) and cut the fabric, leaving enough to fold over and staple.


Stapling...make sure you have the correct size of staples for the gun as well as for when you staple (make sure they are not too long and end up going through to the other side!) You don't want any sharp staples sticking up through your table top or worse yet - your seat!!

We stapled one time on the middle edge of each side and made sure the fabric laid nicely before stapling around the entire perimeter.

Once you are satisfied with your paint job and it has dried, attach your tabletop and seats. And step back to admire...

So what do you think? Are you inspired to break out the spray paint? There are so many colors to choose from, so don't worry if pink isn't your favorite color. Let's just say the boys won't be using this one for their poker games :) We will be using this at our show near the Itasca Country Fairgrounds in Grand Rapids on July 25th and 26th. There will be a vintage car show as well. Come say hi if you're in the area, we'd love to meet you in person!

24 comments:

  1. You know this is amazing? You could sell these and make millions I tell ya, millions! =)

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  2. Oh, and you should definitely send this to Design*Sponge "before & after" because it belongs there. ; )

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  3. This looks great! I might have to try it for the kid. Oil cloth is so easy to clean it might just make the perfect little art table!

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  4. It was actually a post on Design*Sponge that inspired us to do this project, so I emailed her to let her know...maybe we'll see this one on there, who knows?!

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  5. I can't wait to see the reactions to this table set at the craft show!

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  6. Your table turned out AMAZING!!! Wow, I love it. It for sure should be on Design Sponge. Bens parents have a cabin in grand rapids, so if were there I'll stop by :)

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  7. Omg, I love how your project turned out! It was fun seeing it step by step, too. Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

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  8. OMG Jamie, these are amazing. so pretty and very eye catching. thanks for sharing a fun how to. I never would have thought of it!

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  9. I'm pretty sure that my mom has this EXACT table (in the "before" pictures, I mean)... It could use a lovely makeover like this!

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  10. I have a kids' table and chair set that is an atrocious clash of primary colors that I've been jonesing to redo. What did you do with the rubber feet on the chairs? I don't think mine come off. Did you paint them?

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  11. Hi Heather! We did take off the rubber feet to paint and then replaced them with new ones. The only color we found at the store was white. You could try painting them or maybe find a size that would go over the old ones? Good luck!

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  12. Saw this on Flickr today. Love it! We have similar sad chairs in the basement we never bring out! We will use them after our makeover-Thanks. Off to look for fabric.

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  13. I posted a little blurb on my blog regarding this project along with two of your pictures. If you have an objection, please let me know and I will remove them.
    Teresa

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  14. Theresa at Diddle Daddle Designs posted about your fabulous makeover and she was right. How cute and I am thinking "why didn't I take that card table and chairs my mother offered me last weekend when I was in Iowa!" I'll have to let her know she should hang on to it til my next visit and please don't give it to my sister! LOL!

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  15. So cute! Love the color! I can't wait to spray paint the credenza I just purchased at a thrift store for $30...

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  16. Great job. This inspires me to do a makeover on my 2 card tables and 14 folding chairs! You could even switch out the fabric for the holidays or the seasons. You can get the felt-backed plastic tablecloths on the cheap - and those would give you a bit of extra padding! Great job!

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  17. Oh.my.goodness!! So, so cute. I would have never thought of doing that!! I LOVE IT! :) Thanks so much for sharing!!!

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  18. My daughter has an annoying Disney princess table and chairs...I'm totally changing them out. Thanks for the how-to!

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  19. Love it! You've totally inspired me!

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  20. LOVE IT! I admit, I have never, ever thought that those old tables could be salvaged other than putting a table cloth over it. Now so cute and happy!

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  21. My card table seems to have foam underneath the vinyl. Did yours? Did you reuse the 1970s foam or did you replace it with new?

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  22. Ours had that old foam and we just tossed it. I think you could find something similar to replace it, but we thought it was fine without. Hope that helps!

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