First thing Friday morning, before beginning, I visited Dixie Belle Paint to watch tutorials for instructions. Right away I learned how little paint was needed to finish a chair and then came the BIG aha moment — this is soooooo perfect for my entire dining room!
Tabletop
For the tabletop we used the Tobacco Road Voodoo Gel Stain. After watching a few YouTube tutorials we prepped the varnished tabletop by spraying with water and giving it a quick, light sand, making sure it was dry before adding the stain. In between coats we worked on chairs, but this product dries incredibly quick. After three coats of gel stain and one coat of clear coat look at the amazing difference!
Dining Chairs
The dining chairs were prepped just the same, but rather than using a stain, for the four side chairs we used Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint in Drop Cloth. After two coats of paint, I used a sanding sponge to smooth and distress each chair. For the final step I rubbed the Grunge Glaze into the distressed areas following another tutorial on the site. I seriously went from tolerating the pattern and style of these chairs, to loving the detail and vintage look they have now!
Once we finished up the four side chairs, adding two coats of paint to each, we still had about a quarter to a third of the 16oz remaining. Still, I was concerned that wouldn’t be enough to finish both of the larger armchairs and the pedestal base of our table. After MUCH deliberation between the other two paint colors included in the box, Hurricane Gray and Barn Red, the vote for the red won out!
I used the unused gel stain to warm up the distressed areas of both the base and the chairs this time, and I’m thrilled with how these turned out as well!
This is the first time I have ever tackled a project like this and while it’s not perfect, this dining set is much more US and it certainly turned out way better than I thought possible!
In my opinion Dixie Belle Paint is absolutely worth a look for your furniture painting needs. I hope you enjoyed this little break from my sewing and that this has been helpful!
