Dining Set Redo

Since we got married we've been using a mismatched table and chairs - we have never had a proper dining set. The table is the same one Casey had in his post-college apartment and the chairs were a hand-me-down to me that I used in my first apartment. This never really bothered me - they were perfectly functional and to be honest we rarely eat at our dining table anyway. But as I've become more focused on making our house into a home and making it feel a bit more polished the mismatched set became the perfect opportunity for improvement. Here is what our table and chairs have looked like for the last several years:

It's fine, nothing wrong with it, just a little ho-hum. So after perusing tons of pictures online and convincing Casey that this really was a good idea I got to work. It took a lot more time than I thought it would and I'm pretty sure the friendly folks at our neighborhood Ace think we're now BFF's, but I got it done.

And now, without further ado, here is our "new" dining set:

I really love the overall look, but I'm not happy with the way the finish on the table came out. In fact, that's the part that gave me more grief than anything. I initially used a spray on polyurethane but I just couldn't get it to look even. So I then bought regular polyurethane and tried both brushing and rolling it on, but there were terrible brush and roller marks. So at the suggestion of my awesome father-in-law I sanded it one last time and wiped on the final layer of poly. This looked better than the rolling, but still is not perfect. But I can live with imperfect. Or maybe I'll just have to get busy sewing up several table runners ;-)

I really love the transformation the chairs underwent:

When I first got these chairs my mom and grandma came over to my apartment and helped me recover the awful upholstery with some fun striped fabric. It's been cheery and bright the last few years but I really like this new upgrade:

I'm also glad I decided to use two different fabrics on the chairs. It's a little unexpected and I like that :-)

So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed your peek into our new and improved dining room!