Est. 2012 | Colorado Springs, Colorado and Charlottesville, Virginia wedding & family photographer

It has been a while since I’ve shown you all a DIY project, right? After Alex moved into his home last year, he realized that the movers misplaced an essential part of his table that held the entire thing together. Basically, the heavy tabletop was balancing on two pillars with minimal security. He was going to rig it together to be cost-efficient (I mean, I don’t blame the man since he had home expenses to take care of!), but I thought it was the perfect opportunity for me to offer my skills. 🙂 He loved the farmhouse table I repurposed back in VA, but we knew it wouldn’t fit in his Florida home (SO SAD). I was motivated to find something that I could makeover! Check out my process below. 🙂

What inspired me was the clock we hung in his kitchen — The light wood and white trim details reminded me of a farmhouse-coastal feel. With the house tight in space, we needed to make the room appear bigger by using light-colored furniture. I’m a fan of quality wooden furniture that will last for a long time! 🙂 So we said, “goodbye!” to his old table and welcomed a new project in the house that would fit this “farmhouse-coastal” theme I was envisioning.

After searching (what seemed forever!) on Facebook Marketplace and countless thrift shops for a couple of months (these things take time, patience, a vision, and knowing a good deal from a bad deal), I finally found THE table at a thrift shop in Destin, FL! It was a cute store called PathofGrace, which turned out to be owned by a ministry program! 🙂 This extendable heavy wooden dining table fit the bill and vision. Although it was dark wood, I loved the “bones.” And I got it for $250, which was an excellent price for a quality 8-person table!

Alex and I got it into the house (whew, that took some work!!), and I jumped into painting the chairs and bottom portion of the table with white chalk paint. It took a few layers to cover the dark wood, but it made a big difference. 🙂 Before I sanded the dark stain off the tabletop, I took a photo to illustrate the difference it does to a room. In the kitchen, the dark color was too heavy for the kitchen and a bit formal. It reminded me of my parent’s dining room table and it didn’t feel the feel of a kitchen table quite yet. So it was time to SAND!

Sanding took some time, and I probably should have sanded it outside after realizing I created a huge mess, but I was motivated to get it done! If you have an extendable table, don’t forget to include the leaf so everything the sanding is consistent. 🙂 After I sanded, I vacuumed the dust, wiped it with a wet cloth, and painted 4-5 layers of poly to seal the natural wood color. I loved the texture of the wood, so I decided that a gloss sealant would be sufficient. Plus, the color matched the hanging clock! 🙂 YES!!!

And now for the exciting part … Here are the results!!! Very different from the thrift shop and it’s perfect for our home. 🙂

For the upcoming Christmas season, I decided to decorate our table with a Hearth and Hand table runner (HEY, Chip and Jojo!), boxwood garland, and gold taper candle holders. 🙂

Be sure to check out the last table to repurposed HERE!! 🙂