Bored with same old plain-looking wooden table and chairs and want to redecorate them without spending lot of money and time? You don't like table clothes and would like a table that looks so good that you don't need them any more? Exactly what I was thinking before I started this easy project I am about to share with you.
You will need:
Ottoman Coffee Table
sanding paper
acrylic colors of your choice
water based matt finish transparent varnish
several 1 inch wide brushes or wider sponge rollers
self adhesive stencils of your choice (all supplies can be found at hobby shops)
pieces of sponge (take dish washing sponge and cut it in several smaller pieces)
pair of plastic gloves
some old newspapers to cover floor
I have decided that I want my table to be chocolate-brown and my table to be pale yellow (I call it vanilla color). I bought container of chocolate-brown acrylic color, container of white and a tube of yellow. I put some small amount of yellow into white and mixed well until I was pleased with hue of yellow. Firstly, you have to sand your table and chairs a bit to make sure colors will stick well to the surface. Sand lightly and when you are finished take damp cloth and wipe away all excess sanding dust. Leave all surfaces to dry before starting to paint them. You can pain all straight surfaces with roller, but for curved ones you will need a brush. Be patient and make sure all surfaces are covered. I covered everything with 2 coats of paint, drying well between coats. Be careful not to have any paint seeps because it will not look nice once paint is dry. If this happens you can try to fix it with lightly sanding them off.
I painted my table into chocolate-brown and my chairs into vanilla pale yellow and left them to completely dry over night. When your items are dry colors will have matte finish. Personally, I like it that way, but if you want you can make them shiny by covering them with shiny transparent wood finish. I decided to leave it as it is, but to embellish it a bit more using stencils. I picked flowery patterned stencil and placed it along both sides of my table. Now you will need persistence and patience because you will go one stencil at the time (unless you buy several stencils and then you can work on them at the same time). Put stencil on place of your choice and make sure it stick well in order to avoid paint spill underneath. Take small sponge and put small amount of paint on it. Press your sponge against some old newspaper to remove excess paint and with almost dry sponge tap gently over your stencil. Remove stencil gently and move along. If your patterns overlap you will need to be even more patient and wait until first stenciled pattern has dried completely, otherwise you could smear it.
I have made vanilla patterns along two longer sides of my chocolate-brown table and also along legs of my table. On chairs I took same pattern and place it along side of chairs and made them chocolate brown. When everything was finished I left it to dry over night again and next day I covered it with two coats of transparent matte finish for durability. I am very pleased with results and so is my family. Now I don't need table clothes and after each meal I just wipe my table with damp cloth and everything is clean again!