Vintage Dining Table & Chairs Redo

Bonjour, Mes Amis!

You might not have caught the posts I did last summer, about our vintage dining table and chairs that I found.  Well, I realized that I never showed you how everything looked after their much needed transformation!

 I lucked out and found this solid oak circa 1930's dining table at a garage sale, but it was in need of some help!  It came with 5 leaves, and for just $100 I couldn't pass it up!  I'll show you what she used to look like in just a bit!

And later in the summer I lucked out and found this set of 4 antique dining chairs on Craig's list, for just $145.  But, they didn't look this pretty when we discovered them.  Oh, no!

 What drew me to the table and chairs were their great legs!  I did a bit of research on the chairs, and discovered that their unusually shaped front legs are called "barley twist", and that most likely they hailed from England, I'm guessing from the 1920's or 1930's.

I also am in love with the pretty design on the backs of the chairs.  I've never seen anything quite like it before.

 The table features 5 chunky legs (love!), with their original wooden casters.  I don't even mind that they have a few nicks and dents.  I think that just adds to their shabby appeal, don't you?

I painted them a creamy white, and did just a bit of distressing.  And since I love the look of a wood topped table with painted legs, that's what we decided to go with.

 Ok, here is what the table looked like when we found it.  Not bad, but you should have seen the leaves.  They were in really rough shape. Someone had started to refinish the table, then obviously ran out of steam!

 The chairs on the other hand needed help!  Not only was the red velvety upholstery so not me, it was old and smelled like cigarette smoke (yuck!).

 I couldn't rip that and the falling apart padding off quick enough!  The chairs proved to be a much bigger project than they should have!  If I had used a paint sprayer, it would have made the job oh so much easier! (next time I tackle a big painting project, you can bet I either will rent a sprayer, or buy one!)

It also didn't help that I was trying to paint during one of our major heat waves, with 100% humidity!

Thankfully hubby came to the rescue, and refinished the top of the table and all of the leaves, as well as painted the legs. 

And, he also reupholstered the chairs!  It was his first time doing so, and I think I think he did a terrific job!

 We had all 5 leaves in when we had my family over for Christmas dinner. It comfortably fit all of us!  When it's just the two of us, we only keep one leaf in. The only part about the table that I wish was different is that when you have leaves in, there's a big gap in the boards along the sides. But I can live with that!

 I've added a vintage white eyelet runner to the table, as well as my favorite mercury glass votives.  I so am enjoying the simplicity of the look, after all of the holiday decorations.

 We are so happy with the way the set turned out!  It was worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears!

(ok, maybe not blood, but certainly sweat and tears!)

 Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I also lucked out finding the upholstery fabric!  It is a gorgeous heavy tapestry, that coincidentally nearly matches our couch! And, it was on clearance at Jo Ann's, yeah!

 In this last shot, you can also get a glimpse of our curio cabinet to the right.  Also a Craig's list find last summer (to replace our original one that we sold before we moved from Washington).  I'll have to show it to you another time, but notice it also has a similar "twist" design on the front, which I think ties in with the chair legs.

Have a warm and cozy weekend!
Sharing with Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday