Quick(ish) Kitchen Table Update

Had a 3-day weekend last weekend which was awesome since it's been a long time since I've had one of those.  This mama can get some serious shit done in three days.  I mean, one would think that with my schedule I'd take the three days and relax?  But I have no idea what that word means.  Oh and this damn kitchen needs to get finished!!!  

The goal was to get the pedestal table sanded and painted and also get the upper cabinets (bases not doors, come on now) sanded and painted.  Guess who got all of it checked off the list?  THIS GIRL!!!

I'm not going to show you the cabinets today.  We'll wait until the doors are back on in the new white color.  But the table?????  Oh so excited to have this done.  

If you remember, I'm trying to get rid of a lot of the aqua downstairs.  However, this wasn't an "I just want to get rid of the aqua project."  This table had a bit of an.... issue?  

I originally bought this table shortly after I bought the house.  It was all white.  BORRRRRRRINGGGGGGG.  I mean, you know me and white.  Hate it.  

It is a simple pedestal table- base in the center, 4 chairs.  Aside from the new couches, this was one of my first furniture purchases for the house.  I needed a place to sit and eat that didn't make me feel like I always had to eat on the couches.  You know- be a civilized adult.  I found this and said it'd do.  It's nothing glamorous by any means.  But it does the job.  

Aside from some quick meals at this table, when I had friends over and play games- this is where we sit.  I've wanted for a long time to swap out the chairs.  They are awfully hard to sit on for longer than 10 minutes. I usually end up putting an outdoor patio cushion on my chair cuz they really hurt my butt and back.   New chairs will eventually happen but in the mean time I've found other things to spend my money on.  This table is definitely NOT a priority. 

Well about 7 years ago I got it in my head to paint the table aqua.  

And I loved it.  It was the perfect pop of color.  It was a Tiffany blue-ish aqua, not too bright, just enough.  I loved the color so much, I painted the powder room directly across from the slider the same color.  Which right now, it still is.  (that'll change soon as well)

When I painted the table I used standard paint and then did a clear poly coat.  Which remained pretty for about 2 years.  Then the poly started to turn a tinge of yellow.  Then the table started to get splotchy stains.  It was starting to look pretty gross- like I didn't ever clean the top of the table.  But I did, believe me.  But I just lived with it.  Until it almost caught on fire.  Yup.  On fire.  

If you have never been told to not leave a candle unattended, I'm here to tell you.... DON'T EVER LEAVE A CANDLE UNATTENDED.  Which as I'm telling you this, I didn't leave my burning candle unattended.  Thankfully I was home.  

I constantly have candles burning in my house.  Typically 3 or more at a time.  Most of these candles are in a decorative container.  However, this time- I just put a glass jar candle on top of the table.  I've used these same brand of candles for more years than I can count and NEVER had an issue.  So I didn't even think twice when I put it on the table and lit it.  I was sitting in the living room and heard a POP.  I thought to myself- huh what was that?  I kind of looked around and didn't see anything that would have made this "pop" noise.  I walked towards the kitchen and saw the candle wax from the jar leaking all over the top of the table, with the wick still lit and basically burning through the table top.  I quickly blew out the candle and cleaned up the wax and this is what was the end result.  

You can clearly see the shape of the jar burned onto the table top with a much darker burn mark within the shape.  The paint had peeled off from the heat, going through the aqua as well as the original white enamel.  Literally in a matter of MINUTES, this happened.  Had I been upstairs and not heard that "pop" who knows how long it would've burned that table.  Maybe the wick would have blown itself out.  Maybe it would have gone up in flames.  Who knows.  But damn, it sure scared me quite a bit. I make sure I ALWAYS have the candles in something now and not just directly on a table or counter.  

I'm ashamed to admit how long I left the table like this.  It's so easy to ignore when you put a decorative bowl over it.  HAH.  But you can see how nasty the top of the table was getting- ASIDE from the burn mark.  The spots are far more subtle in the photos but believe me- you can clearly see them when looking at the top.

So nasty.  It's definitely been on my list of things to do.  Especially after I repainted the entire downstairs.  The color itself was just out of place now and needed to go.  But the fact that the top of the table was so gross, it definitely needed to be repainted.  Queue last weekend.  

I definitely didn't want to move the table into the garage since #1 it's freezing in there right now and #2 it's freaking heavy.  Rather than sanding the entire thing in the house (ie MAKING A HUGE MESS) I decided to try that orange gel paint remover.  

As you can see I did start with sanding and realized it wasn't going to work so I switched to the gel.  It felt like it was going to take me forever sanding it.  I put a thick coat of gel on the table and waited.  I set the timer for 30 minutes and checked on it.  You can see below how it started to lift up the paint. 

Then I started scraping the paint off.  

By no means is this process not messy.  But at least it's contained and doesn't have dust ALL OVER MY HOUSE.  

I did a second pass with the gel to get the little bit leftover off.  Side note: I only did the top and rim of the table top.  I didn't touch the base.  

Once the second coat of gel was scraped off, I did end up sanding the rest of the paint off.  The table eventually looked like this. 

And you can see how deep that burn mark really went.  

I cleaned up the dust from sanding and gave it a good wipe down to make sure it was all cleaned off.  Then got to painting.  This time around, I used the cabinet paint in the same dark gray as the bottom cabinets.  I just need this table to last a couple of years with this paint.  I really have no problem getting rid of the table when all is said and done.  It's served it's purpose.  But for the time being I just want it to look nice and also go with the downstairs color scheme.  

I ended up doing 4 coats on the table top itself and 3 coats on the base.  The base I just went right over what was already there.  I didn't sand it, just wiped it down to make sure it was clean.  That'll probably bite me in the ass at some point.  

Final product- dried and cleaned up.  

I'm hoping the paint designed for cabinets has a harder surface and holds up much better than before so that I don't need to worry about the table top.  I didn't and don't plan to do a clear coat.  Just because the original clear coat on this, as well as the cabinets, turned that dingy yellow.  And now I only need to put a decorative bowl on the table if I want to.  YAY!  

It looks so much better- not only because the burn mark is gone, but because it matches so much better with what is happening downstairs right now.  Also it didn't take me very long at all to make this change.  I did the upper cabinets at the same time I did the table.  So when I put the gel on the table, I also put the gel on the cabinets.  When I scraped the table, I also scraped the cabinets, etc.  But my timeline was Friday night- gel and scraping, Saturday- sanded and cleaned up the dust, and Sunday- another pass at cleaning and painting.  

Final picture- looking from the nook towards the kitchen so you can see the lower cabinets with the table.  

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!