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Furniture makeover: children’s table & chair set

I love love love me a good garage sale!  Our older sis Sandee is the Q U E E N of garage sales… she is the type to not only find a designer piece of furniture/clothing/home decor/etc. at an already low price, but will talk the owner down to pennies and walk away with something the rest of us sisters covet, (like your recent PB robin egg blue console table, San! Gimme it!)  But, she is very generous with her good finds, always calling us to report possible matches for things we are hunting for.  I mentioned I wanted a little table with chairs for my toddler and within a few weekends, I got the call…. a set for $10!  Score!  Introducing my newest furniture makeover: children’s table & chair set.

 
And take a looksie at the weather-worn Nantucket table & chair set BEFORE…. yikes!
 
When I brought it home, my husband told me I got ripped off!  LOL
Yes it was multi-colored, yet it was beaten up, yes it was chippy as it had been rained on, yes it was stained, yes most of the joints were loose and yes it had seen better days BUT, it was also the perfect size for my toddlers reading nook in his play area.  I had to try!
 
After a thorough scrubbing {as well as peeling off stickers & nail polish from the surface,} I spent a good hour tightening each of the screws and bolts so the piece could withstand a busy 2-year old was sturdy.  For under $20, I snagged 3 cans each of flat white Rust-oleum  and slate gray gloss Rust-oleum spray paint, a can of chalkboard paint and a roll of painters tape from the local home improvement store and I was set.  I first gave the table a fresh coat of white paint, then sprayed the seats of all 4 chairs white:
 
 Once dry, I taped off each chair seat every 2″ to create stripes.  I then gave each chair a thorough spray of gray paint and slowly peeled away the tape to reveal a fun nautical striped pattern:
 
 
I decided to maximize the play/use for this cute table as best I could… my sons reads on it, has snack time on it, plays with his cars/puzzles/toys on it, colors on it, etc., so I thought, “Why not color with chalk on it, too?” 🙂
 
After applying 5 thin coats and letting it dry, I sanded down the edges of the table and all 4 chairs to give it the distressed look you will see on most of Lolly Jane’s projects:
 
 
To finish off the set, I whipped up the numbers 1-4 in a coordinating nautical-ish font, cut it out to use as a vinyl stencil, and applied a quick coat of black acrylic paint that I had on hand:
 
 
 I now had a set of 4 cute chairs, personalized for pennies and labeled 1-4:
 
 
I have a feeling the labeling will come in handy in a few years when toddler & baby boy #2 start fighting 😉
 
As you can see, my little one is LOVING his revamped set- especially the chalkboard paint:
 
 
 …and I am loving how EASY PEASY it is to clean up!
 
For around $30, I salvaged a set that works great in my home.  Don’t let husbands critics sway you to not try something new… I am sure glad I went for it and made my hubby eat his words when the set was completed and he told me it didn’t even look like the same table or chairs and he was glad I kept it.  
 
 
I am always amazed what a little elbow grease + spray paint can amount to! 😉 So, any good garage sale finds for you lately?

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23 Comments

  1. I love what you did with the kids table & chair set…SO CUTE! Your secretary makeover was absolutely gorgeous! I’m amazed at all the furniture you find at Habitat, Craigslist, etc. You’re so talented. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

  2. Children furniture rental in Delhi NCR….. Hire the best rental service or products for your baby and your family children…

      1. Thanks! I have a kids table to paint and fell in love with the pic I saw in Pinterest!

  3. This looks so cute! I’ve been wanting to redo ours. How many spray cans do you think you used?

    1. Thanks Julie! I’ve updated the post to reflect your question, thank you! I used about 2.5 cans (I had originally purchased 3 of each.) I recommend the brand I used OR a good quality spray paint- I had to return Walmart’s crappy brand and wasted time driving to Home Depot to snag the brand name that covers way better. 😉 Happy painting!

    1. Hi Praveen, I used the white flat Rust-oleum universal spray paint (at any hardware store- there’s a link in the tutorial now.) I did a light sand once both colors were applied and dry. (: Thanks for asking! Happy painting!
      XO

  4. The table looks fabulous. After looking at the transformation you achieved, I want to try it out on an Ikea Kritter table at home. Do I need to sand the table before painting it? I haven’t used spray paint before and so would like to use a paint brush and paint instead. Does the spray paint have any advantage over paint and brush. Did you apply any polyurethane coating on top of the paint?
    Thanks.

    1. I would spray paint it since it’s fake. If you use the brush, it’ll be streaky and won’t stick as well. BUT you can do it with nice, light coats. Also, for sure seal with a spray poly or by hand (:

      1. Thanks for your reply. Do you have any reccomendations for a poly to use…. I am new to this.

  5. What a beautiful set! I love the way you painted it. It had great bones, you just brought out the potential. WTG on such a great find. and TEN BUCKS?!?! GET OUT!!!

    1. Thanks Michele! It took a lot of scrubbing and TLC but I am super happy with how it turned out (and now holding up!) Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

  6. seriously in love with this and hope to copy cat it for my toddlers nautical room! thank you!!

  7. So Cute!
    I Love it!
    Visiting from Craft-o-maniac.
    I think I'm your newest follower 🙂
    thanks for sharing!
    amber

  8. It looks wonderful! Great job! You make me want to get into garage sale-ing.

  9. Give me that back!!!!!!! Lol You did a SUPER job sis. It turned out even better than I thought it would! The best part is that Cory had to eat his words 😉

  10. SO DARN CUTE!!! Now I'm on the look out for a cute little table like this for my g-sons…and yes, I'm going to be a big, fat copy catter! Great job!

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