UpCycled Kitchen Table

 I began my search for a new kitchen table several weeks ago.  Searching craigslist, facebook, ebay and thrift stores.  It took a while but I KNEW I would find what I was looking for at a decent price! 

We have six people in our immediate family, but having 3 teenagers we rarely all six have dinner together! My butcher block table, that I LOVE and WILL NEVER part with, seats 6-8 but takes up a TON of space in my kitchen.  (It is now a homework table in my game room.) I wanted a small round drop leaf OR small round table with a leaf.  This way we could seat 4 comfortably and add the leaf to accommodate 6 when necessary.

Of course, I could have gone to ANY furniture store and bought exactly what I described but so can everyone else.  There is a story behind everything in my home and I like it that way!  

I found my table on craigslist for $60 and since I already had stain, paint, brushes etc my only expense was the table.

Below is the table before without the leaf in.  There was some nice damage to the top and it looked like a hungry dog got a hold of the legs!

Kitchen Table Before

I began by taking everything apart and sanding...all of it!  I originally thought I wanted to stain the entire table ebony.  After one coat of ebony stain I was thinking that was way too much black!  

Then I decided to continue on the top with another coat of black stain but decided to mix up some white chalk paint for the base.

After applying two coats of chalk paint I  lightly sanded the edges where normal wear would be.  This turned out GREAT since I had a coat of black stain underneath the chalk paint!

After one coat of polyurethane on the top I lightly sanded so it didn't look so "perfect".  I then finished the whole thing off with two more coats of polyurethane on the entire piece.

My "new" table!...

Finished Table with Leaf In

Finished Table