Back when I had DIY Mondays in May (click here), I was inspired to start my own diy project. So I decided to tackle the makeover of our casual dining table. It is used everyday and was beginning to show some wear and was in desperate need of a facelift. Here are some before pics…








One of my goals was to modernize the mostly country-style table.  The light colored stain had to go.  I came up with a concept of staining the table with a dark stain so the wood grain will still be visible.  Then for the modern touch, paint a modern design on top in a bright white.  After some power sanding and hand sanding, I removed all of the original finish from the tabletop.  Then I applied 2 coats of ebony stain. 





Here is a close up of the tabletop with the new stain.





Now a lot of people would have stopped there and called it a night.  I wanted to take it a step further and make a unique look by hand-painting a design on top.  I looked at modern wallpaper designs to get some ideas and then with chalk in hand, I sketched out several different looks until I came out with one that worked.








Once I decided on the final design, it was time to get out the paint.  I used leftover white latex paint that we had from another project and purchased a few quality art brushes.  Following the chalk outline made this step super easy and the possibility of making a mistake less likely.  It took about 3 coats of the white paint to get the look I wanted.





Now the only thing left was to apply 3 coats of polyurethane.  This step took longer than I wanted because for the majority of the month of June we have had super soggy weather (hence the delay of the reveal).  But, finally I am very excited about the final results and ready to tackle the next project!








So there you have it a little country with a little modern makes a great look.  This gives me a little boost to continue to slowly update this old country house into a modern country look.  Hope you like it too.