1980's Country transformed into Classic French Beauty

By Lori, Owner at Stage Stop Designs

Winning Category

When I found this 1980's dining room set sitting forlorn on the floor of my local thrift store, I knew I'd found a diamond in the rough. I was so excited, I almost cried. I had never seen a dining table with details carved into the top! I thought about how to transform it for almost three months. I'd found a patent sticker on the underside of the table and in my research, I found that the design was patented in the early 1980's and was based on a French Gothic design from a furniture encyclopedia from the 1930's. This helped me to decide how I wanted to turn this country-looking set into a French-inspired beauty.

After a thorough cleaning (It's amazing how filthy a dining table can get!), I sanded everything to some degree: the table top down to bare wood, the legs and chairs got a scuff sand. Everything got a coat of primer. The top was painted in a charcoal gray, followed by four coats of wipe on Gel urethane top coat in satin sheen. The body of the table and the chairs were painted in an antique white. Then, all of the white areas were treated with a hand-rubbed clear wax, followed by black wax. The details on the table had white wax applied. All of it was primed and painted by hand. I upholstered the chairs in a French-motif fabric. The finished product turned out as beautiful as I'd hoped. 

Products Used

  • Wipe on Gel urethane top coat in satin sheen

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