How to Paint a Table in One Day

When Bobby and I got married, we were gifted with my parent’s old dining room table. This table has been around for awhile, and I’m thinking was the “hot” item from the late 80’s because I have seen said table and chairs SO MANY TIMES over the years.

We were very thankful to not have to purchase a table as newlyweds, and it was still in great shape (aside from a stain form when I was 7 and my dad spilled shoe polish on it trying to clean my white church shoes. (I told you it’s been around for a long time!)

Since we moved into our current house almost two years ago, I have been itching to paint the table. I scoured Pinterest for instructions and before and after photos. Everyone seemed to say something different, and I got a little bit confused. I put the idea out of my head because the past two years have been super busy, but decided for my Mother’s Day gift this year I wanted the table painted. I figured it would be a lot cheaper than getting a new table, and I decided to enlist the help of my dad who is a great painter.

They came into town last weekend, and my dad and I headed to Lowes. We had an idea in out heads, and confirmed with the guy in the paint department before purchasing.

We went home, put an old sheet in the garage, brought the table out, and did a little bit of sanding.

Then, it was time for primer.

This primer dries really fast, so we were able to paint two coats fairly quickly.

We waited a couple of hours until we were sure it was dry, and then started with the paint.

This paint is really nice and goes on very smoothly and covers well. We still decided to do two coats, but it was plenty.

We finished off with a couple coats of a sealant. This isn’t 100% necessary, but because it is a dining room table that will be used daily, and we have a toddler, we decided it would help the table to hold up longer.

We decided to change out the rug with the one we had in front of the couch, and take the leaf out of the table to give more room in the dining room area. I am so pleased with how it turned out! It feels like I have a whole new dining room and we only spent about $50. I bought the chairs from Wayfair.com a few months ago. They were on sale and have free shipping.

If you have any questions about what we did shoot me an email or leave a comment here. Good luck!

QOTD: Have you ever painted furniture?