Do you have that one piece of furniture taking up valuable real estate in your garage or basement that you planned on giving a makeover one day? That one day turned into weeks, months and then years. The one you keep stubbing your toe on or have to move out of the way every time you need access to what's hiding behind it. Yeah, that one.

Well, today I'm sharing THAT elephant in our basement workshop that has been a pain in my backside for over 3 years. Finally, thanks to our monthly Furniture Fixer Upper challenge, I said enough and here is the Painted Dining Room Set Dry Brushed Two-Tone Gray.

Painted Two-Tone Grey Dining Room Set

It feels so good to have unobstructed access to our power tools again. Even better, I don't have to remove a couple of chairs every time I want to open the shop windows. See what I mean? Three years of this kind of crazy!


Can you spot the trestle table base among the pile? Did you notice the top is missing? That's because it was leaning against our work table, blocking access to the miter saw...for 3 stinking years!


Oh and check out the lovely upholstered seats that fell off when we tipped the chairs over, creating a plume of dust as they landed on the concrete floor...full of all kinds of nasty.


Anyway, before I get into the details of how I married the set of Jacobean style dining chairs with the trestle table that was missing a leaf, as mentioned above, it is our monthly Furniture Fixer Uppers challenge, one of my favorite days of the month.

Six talented and creative bloggers come together to breathe new life into six furniture pieces that had seen better days. You will find links to my friend's furniture makeovers at the bottom of this post.

In case you missed December's challenge, I shared how I found a hidden treasure under layers of paint on the Farmhouse Side Table Makeover.


Starting with the trestle table, the underside had all the original mechanisms for an extension but sadly was missing the leaf. The plan was to build a replacement leaf and that felt overwhelming so the project was abandoned and left leaning against the worktable.

A Materials List is included for your convenience towards the bottom of this post. This post contains affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend to complete this project. See my disclosure policy page.

Trestle Dining Table Missing Leaf

Fast forward what felt like an eternity, we decided the idea of building a new leaf wasn't cost effective and only four of the six chairs were sturdy enough to use so a smaller table would work best. We left the mechanisms intact should the buyer decide to have a new leaf made.

To prevent the two top pieces from opening we first clamped them tightly closed and drilled 2-inch wood screws through the wood leaf mechanism. The screws could easily be removed if one wanted to add a leaf later.

Trestle Dining Table Top

When we acquired the table I got to work on it right away by stripping the glossy finish and sanding it down to the natural wood with an orbital sander. Unfortunately, the veneer was wearing thin so my hopes of staining the top dark walnut went out the window. I forgot to take a photo of the table before taking the sander to it.


Onto to Plan B, staining it with Dixie Belle Voodoo Gel Stain in the color Up In Smoke.


You could still see the blotches where I couldn't remove the old finish so I decided to give the top a dry brushed look with layers of Dixie Belle mineral chalk paint in the colors Driftwood and Hurricane Gray.


The apron was painted the darker Hurricane Gray using a wedge paint brush. I used a square paint brush to paint the edge along the top with the lighter Driftwood color. It made painting a straight line against the two other paint colors so easy without having to use painter's tape.

To protect the top I applied three thin coats of Dixie Belle Gator Hide, a water-repellent matte finish that has become my absolute favorite clear coat finish.

Trestle Dining Table Base

The trestle table base was painted two-tone gray as well. I find you have to be careful with painting two-tone furniture because sometimes it can come off looking cheap. To add depth to the colors I applied a thin coat of Daddy Van's Shadow Black wax, wiping off the excess with an old cut up t-shirt.

This is what the trestle table base looked like before...

and after painted two-tone gray...

Jacobean Style Dining Chairs

The chairs did not come with the table but because of their chunky Jacobean style, I thought they would pair beautifully. Don't they remind you of something you'd see in a castle?


Sadly as I mentioned earlier in this post, only four chairs were sturdy enough to use. We have plans for the other two but more about that in an upcoming post. These solid wood chairs I suspect are reproductions from the 1920's and they had seen their better days. Some of the dowels had come loose on the arms and slats so they had to be reglued and clamped overnight.

There were too many knicks and worn bits to fill and so I've embraced the imperfections by declaring the dining chairs loaded with rustic charm. The two armchairs were painted Hurricane Gray and the other two Driftwood. Applying black wax and letting it nestle into those imperfections has them standing at attention and part of the charm.


But I'm not going to lie, painting these chairs by hand was tedious, boring, and time-consuming, however, the task was made much easier by using a round brush. I would highly recommend spraying them and had it not been -30C outside, I would have definitely sprayed them with the handy Homeright Paint Sprayer.

I'm quite pleased with how the black wax deepened both the dark and light gray. Here are comparisons with and without wax over both colors.

Dining Chair Seats Reupholstered

The wood on the upholstered seats was cracked and the screws stripped to the point where they no longer attached to the chairs. We replaced the seats with new plywood, using the old seats as a template.


Funny story about the fabric...

My eyes immediately set on the most perfect plaid fabric - so perfect I didn't bother looking at any others. Bonus, the sign above read 2 for 1 sale. There was a lot of grunting going on as I heaved it from the bottom of the stacks of fabric and again while carrying the heavy bolt to the cutting table. Just as the gal was ready to cut my 2 meters of glorious fabric she said, "you know this is $90 a meter, right and it's not on sale?" I nearly jumped over the cutting table to grab those scissors right out of her hand. Then give her a big hug for the heads up.

Feeling totally deflated I headed over to the clearance section and found this striped fabric for 60% off the already reduced price. I marched right back to that same cutting table and showed that $90 bolt of fabric whose boss.


Here is the dark gray armchair finished...


...and the light gray painted chair finished.


Upholstering dining chairs are easy peasy and I always suggest they are the perfect starter project for learning upholstery. If tackling upholstery makes you nervous I highly recommend The Complete Guide To Upholstery, it is a book always by my side during upholstery projects. Like when I upholstered these Farmhouse Cane Back Chairs using a drop cloth, our thrift store score Duncan Phyfe Dining Chairs, and these pretty Teal Floral Cross Back Chairs.

As promised here is a convenient Materials List so you can see what products I used for this painted dining room set.

Materials List

• Wedge paint brush
• Square paint brush
• Round paint brush
• Up In Smoke Dixie Belle Voodoo Gel Stain 
• Dixie Belle Hurricane Gray Mineral Chalk Paint
• Dixie Belle Driftwood Mineral Chalk Paint
• Dixie Belle Gator Hide Water Repellent Clear Coat
• Shadow Black Daddy Van's Wax
• Orbital Sander
• 2-inch Wood Screws
• 2 Meters fabric
• 220 grit sandpaper

So what's the moral of this furniture makeover story? Stop procrastinating, pull up your big girl panties and get the job done because the stress level of working around that elephant in the room is just not worth it. Besides, the task most likely isn't as bad as you built it up to be.

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