Dining Room Table Makeover

I wanted to share some pictures of our dining room table makeover with you all today! 

My maternal grandmother passed away 7 years ago. At the time, I was in the middle of my junior year of college. My mom was given my grandmother's dining room table and she immediately gave it to me so that I could use it whenever I had a house of my own. Josh and I were dating at the time {we got engaged later that year}, so he stored the table at his parent's house in their large walk-in attic. 

We were married a year and a half later, but the first house we bought didn't have a dining room, so the table continued to stay in storage. When we bought our current house a few months ago, I was excited about the thought of using my grandmother's table in our home, but I knew the table needed a serious makeover. It was a great table, but there was some wear-and-tear on the top. I also wanted a much, much darker stain on the table. 

Josh and I had not done anything like this before, but I was determined to have the table in my house. We decided to not let the fact that we were clueless stop us. :)

Here are the before pictures. The ones on top are exactly how the table looked straight from storage. The ones on the bottom are after Josh and his dad sanded the table down to it's original state. 

And here is the finished table! I LOVE the way it looks in our home!

The dark finish really brings out the neat design of the table. We first tried an espresso stain and the table kept soaking it up, so we used black bean paint mixed into an oil-based stain and it was the absolute perfect color and mixture for the table. 

We bought these 6 ivory parsons chairs to make the table a little more contemporary. I like the clean, comtemporary look! I actually ordered the chairs online which was a little brave on my part, but I love them! 

We still need to decorate the room, but I'm having an issue deciding on what I want, so it may be a little longer. :)

Everyone loves a good "before and after" picture, right?

Not too shabby for our first table re-do! This table truly was a labor of love! 

I am so excited about having this table in our home. I have lots of memories of meals around this table with my mom's family. There were 9 grandchildren growing-up, so we could crowd a table on holidays. :) I am looking forward to making lots of new memories with my own little family around this special table.