Annie Sloan Chateau Grey | UpwithFurniture

This is what our kitchen table used to look like

Then it changed to this when we began our kitchen reno and we decided that it was too big for the room.

Pine table with Pure White

I have written a post about the refinishing here. We sold this table and decided to buy a smaller round table to open up the room a bit. I bought this round table for $20. It’s not actually wood. The base is metal and top is something like MDF made to look like wood. I stripped the top as best I could-MDF doesn’t really strip well and I stained it with an ebony stain. You can still see highlights of the old golden oak colour mixed in with the black/brown. I painted the base in AS Provence.

It looks very pretty and the colour combination works well. We painted the accent wall in the kitchen a deep turquoise to go with it and I bought some cane back chairs which I painted white. The coverings which are a lovely leaf print are a perfect match.

The problem was that we didn’t really like the round table. I guess all those years of having a larger table had conditioned us to a bigger surface. It’s all a little too pretty as well. So, onto table #3.

This one was a bit of a mess when I bought it. The previous owner had refinished it in a shiny pine colour but he had taken a layer of veneer off the top before he did that. Consequently, it has holes, gouges and dents. It used to have a stretcher bar across the bottom but for some reason that was removed as well. My husband thought I was nuts but I liked the size and the older look. I filled in a lot of holes but really couldn’t make the surface perfect and that’s ok with me. And I went for a completely different colour. I had half a can of AS Chateau Grey on hand. If you are familiar with this, it’s not really grey at all but almost olive green with a grey undertone. It’s not a colour that I am attracted to but it really works well in the room ( there is some green in the back splash) and co-ordinates well the turquoise. I put a white wash on it for a couple of reasons. It softens the colour, it ties in with the chairs and it highlights the imperfections rather than disguises them. I am very happy with the result. If you have ever painted over a shiny surface like verathane or varnish, you will notice that once it is waxed, the shine will come through. It’s much shinier than a regular surface.

One more thing( if you are still reading this) I bought 2 table and chair sets and one single table in order to get a table and 4 chairs for our kitchen. I sold the round one, sold a set of press back chairs and I still have a refinished table with 2 cane back chairs to sell. Once they are gone, I will have paid for all my purchases and made a profit. Not the easiest way to acquire a table but I actually enjoyed it. Of course, in retrospect, I could have kept the original table. Here’s the final set to be sold ( minus the press back chairs).