Because I Know You’ve Been Holding Your Breath…

It’s no Design on a Dime, but I am really enjoying our living room and kitchen table makeover. And I’m still not finished. But isn’t that how it goes?

As you may already know, I am terrible at “before” pictures. So you’ll have to use your imagination.

Here’s the kitchen table – after I’d sanded it, but before I started painting.The whole saga with the table is as follows. I had planned to strip it with a chemical stripper. I did it on our last kitchen table, and it worked beautifully. However, I found out while doing a test patch that this table is made out of pressboard instead of real wood. There was no way I could strip it. So I sanded. And sanded.

Since there was no wood grain or texture of any kind on the tabletop, it was a beast to paint. Every brush stroke and roller swipe (that’s the technical term, I believe) showed. It would’ve been fine with three coats, but I think the top ended up with five coats, just to get it evenly coated.

And here is my nemesis, conquered, domesticated, and in its new home in the kitchen. (The chairs are the ones that went with our other table.) The old kitchen table has a new home in the laundry room, where it is currently officially serving as a piling place for all sorts of items. It will eventually be used as a laundry folding/project/craft table.

And here is the living room, looking in from the entry. (As there is no before picture, the couches have been swapped, the coffee table refinished, artwork changed over the fireplace, and new entertainment center.) Yes, those are Caedmon’s toys over by the window, shopping cart included. And that’s the infamous pumpkin on the mantle. We still kiss it goodnight. This is looking back toward the entry from the window.And the wall that looks so huge without the enormous armoire. The living room feels so much bigger now! I am still not sure what I’m going to do with the wall to the right of the TV. I need something over there, I’m just not sure what.And a close-up of the coffee table, in its new home.  So other than something else for that big empty space, I’m done. And will be for a while. Because next I’d like to rip out the carpet and put in wood floors. And that’s not going to happen any time soon. I don’t think I can handle any more projects for a while!