kitchen table redo

the beautiful black table sitting in my kitchen was a gift from a dear friend who no longer needed it.  however, it wasn't always black or in the best shape.  but i'll take anything free and try to make it work for me.  it started off brown.  some scuff marks.  wear and tear.  but everything in my house is grey, black and white.  brown would not do.  i searched online (mostly pinterest) to find a way to paint the table and chairs without having to put in a lot of work.  after finishing those kitchen cabinets, i wanted nothing to do with stripping and painting - anything.

BEFORE

BEFORE

after some research, a pinner stated you could use rustoleum spray paint and not have to strip or sand what you're painting.  score!  this better be true!  i went to my local hardware store and purchased 6 bottles of the spray paint.  i will give this spray paint a fair shot at being the holy grail of refinishing furniture.  on a sunny day, i sat outside and spray painted the table and all four chairs until they were black.  the end result is fabulous!  (please ignore the horrible staging in these photos)

AFTER

AFTER

to get these results, i literally just wiped down the surface with a wet paper towel.  let it dry.  spray the heck out of it with rustoleum spray paint in flat black.  let dry.

i used the following:

the holy grail

the table has been black and sitting in my kitchen for a couple months now.  i don't see any chipping on any of the chairs or table.  i have wiped down the table with a wet paper towel and haven't seen any paint being removed in the process.  i have place mats and try to keep all plates and drinks on the mats.  so i'm not for sure how durable it truly is without trying to be anal about using the place mats.  we really only sit at the table to eat dinner and the occasional breakfast on the weekends.  it's usually just me and the boyfriend or the occasional guest.  i haven't tested its durability with kids.  but for us, it's great.

the only downside i noticed from spray painting is the chairs left scuff marks on our tile floor from scooting them in and out from under the table.  i will admit i was in quite a panic to see a bunch of black scuff marks on my floor that didn't easily come up with the weekly swiffering.  so i needed to find a solution to keep from damaging my floors.

scuff marks

scuff marks

i know it's a little hard to see since the floor tile has some grey lines running through it.  but those little scuff marks were all under and around the table.  to fix the problem, i spent one morning in the floor with a toothbrush and a mug of boiling water.  and it worked!

cleaning

i found it worked best if the water was at boiling temperatures.  i had to keep reheating my water throughout the process but it got up every scuff mark.  hallelujah!  to further combat the issue, i glued little square pieces of felt i had lying around the house on the bottom of the chair legs.  

i used the following:

glue

felt

i cut the felt to the size of the bottom of my chair legs.  put some E6000 on the bottom of the chair legs and placed the felt on top.  i let it completely dry during the night before i put them back down under the table.  so far, it seems to be working.  in the future, i'll try to keep this detail in mind and tape over the bottom of the chair legs to prevent from scuffing my floors if i ever spray paint chairs again.  i also intend to purchase a rug to go under the table to help stop future scuff marks if the felt doesn't last.

i attempted to purchase a rug for the kitchen recently.  however, it is too large and is now residing in the living room.  probably need to measure next time...

anyways, side by side comparison of the before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER