Craft project - Painting a kids table and chairs

A very good friend of ours passed along a great kids table and chairs that her kids had grown out of. Here’s what it looked like originally.

It’s a great table. Very solid — heavy — and sturdy.

I had the idea that I wanted to paint it a solid color, and possibly decorate it some how. Decoupage? Paint it in a folk-style with some decorative flowers? Or stencil some train tracks on the surface? It took me forever to decide what I wanted to do. And then I had to get the help of the husband and my father-in-law.

I bought a primer, paint and top coat, all in white, and the guys did the hard work of sanding down everything. It took several hours. I did all the painting and that took several more hours, over a week of time. And then it needed another week to fully dry. This was a HUGE undertaking and having done it, I don’t think I will ever voluntarily paint anything this big again.

By the time the paint had dried, honestly, I had almost lost all interest in finishing the table. But V really needed it. She totally loves this table and we needed to get it back in her space.

So I settled on a small decorative decal that I put in the middle of the table. And two more for the seats. They’re nothing fancy; just enough to add some kind of design element to the starkness of the white paint.

We finished everything last month.

This table and chairs get used a lot. V is on it almost every day, coloring or doing crafts. Since I’m sitting there a lot as well, I thought I’d make some cushions for the chairs to make them a bit more comfortable. They are pretty hard and uncomfortable after sitting for longer periods of time.

I found some foam cushion at the craft store and already had some material at home (no surprise). I made these covers and slipped the cushion in, but after I tested them out, I realized the foam is too thin and provides almost no cushion at all! Darn!