Our new (but old!) kitchen table

Matt and I are both people that like to take on projects around the house.  For a while now I have wanted to get a new table for our dining room.  Don't get me wrong, I love the table that we have had for the past five years.  It is a high top square/rectangular table that can seat 6 or 8 people.  We bought it for our first house when we were newlyweds.  It is a great table and has provided many memories already.  However, because it is a high top style, it makes it difficult for small children (such as our own) to get onto the chairs without help and a further distance to fall for our adventurous tots as well.  And, as some of you may know, I am not very tall.  Okay, I'm short.  4 feet, 10 inches to be exact (Well, 4 feet, 9 1/2 inches, but as short people always do, I round up!).  Anyway, having a high top table when you are my height makes it difficult to set, clear, and clean the table, and even get up and down from the table.  So, I had decided that we needed a lower table for our dining room, and this high top table could be used as a game/rec table in our lower level. 

This is our high top table

So now, the hunt was on for a new-to-us table.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a table and chairs, and I love antiques, so I watched Craigslist to see if anything came up.  I wasn't seeing a lot (but you should look at some of the stuff that's for sale on there-whoa!).  Then I found out that my grandma wanted to get rid of her kitchen table and get a smaller glass top table for her kitchen.  We decided to go look at the table to see if we were interested.  SCORE!  Not only did we find a FREE, ANTIQUE round table in pretty good condition, we also now have the table that my grandma and grandpa have used for years, as well as my mom and uncle when they were growing up.  In fact, it's the table that my whole family used to sit and eat around at Christmas.  The sentimental value alone means so much to me, and I am so excited to use it for years to come and create new memories with it with our family!

Grandma and Grandpa's old table

The table before sanding/staining

When we got the table to our house we decided to sand down the top and re stain and polyurethane the table.  We did the table top and all of the leaves (5!).  I sanded for hours and hours, but it was worth it!  It turned out great and we are so happy with it!


Now there were a few chairs that came with it, but they were in pretty rough shape, so we ended up finding a set of 6 chairs at an antique/thrift shop that match pretty well.  We reupholstered the seats and they look great with the table!

Four of the six chairs (one is a captain's chair with armrests) before new seat covers.

And here is the new/old table and chairs after completion....(drum roll please).........

Ta-da!

Pretty nice, right?!

Chairs with the new fabric (much better in my opinion!)

Our new dining set!

The kids having their first snack at the table before bed :)

I am so excited to say that the project is done and we have a nice new dining set!  Thanks Grandma for your generosity.  We love our new/old table! And thank you to my wonderful husband who helped me complete this project!  Love you:)