A Pop of Color/My Devil Furniture

This is the story of how our breakfast nook table went from this:

To this:

The color is a little orange in the picture because of the time of day that I took the photo. The sunlight streams into the kitchen in the morning and it's super bright. So sorry for that :(

I bought this table on Craigslist for $100 while we were still in San Antonio. It's a typical table that can be found at any big box store. I thought it would be great in our kitchen, knowing that I was already planning to refinish the wood to a darker stain.

After looking at it in our kitchen for 2 and a half months, I decided that the white was not working. At all. The tile floor is more of a tan and the backsplash is all different shades of cream, brown, and tan:

Troy knew that I was staining the table a dark color, but when I told him that I was planning to paint the white to a color, he was like, "NO! The white is going to look so clean and modern when you stain the top." And I was like, "but there is literally NO white in the kitchen and the table looks sterile. And SO white. It's a little jarring."

He wanted me to paint it cream. But I thought that would look dirty. And I always do what I want around the house. It's only fair. I move 4 places in 1 year for his job = getting extra votes for home decor. So I picked red. Spray paint. Less work. WIN.

Here is a side by side comparison. I feel like this picture is also the most true to color.

I first used a palm sander to roughen up all the wood on the table top and seats of the chairs. It took about 45 minutes to do all 5 surfaces. Then I used a paintbrush to stain all the wood with Minwax Dark Walnut ($7 and I only used about a 1/5th of the can). I did 2 coats and made sure to ALWAYS brush the same direction as the wood grain. This took me about 1.5 hours. I was able to do all that during Avery's afternoon nap.

I let that sit outside for 2 days. Then I went out and put a coat of clear finish on top with a paintbrush. That sat for 2 days. I covered the newly stained wooden chairs and table top with a clear drop cloth and used blue painters tape protect the wood. I drug the furniture into the unfinished part of the yard on cardboard and drop cloths and went to town.

I used a spray paint and primer in 1 because I am lazy. I didn't want to spray with primer and then with paint. I could have used a paint and a brush but (again) I am lazy.

I tried to do 3 thin and even coats with the spray paint on all surfaces. I kept finding spots that would peek through white when I thought I was done. For all 5 pieces, I went through 4 cans of spray paint. I'm really happy with the color.

Now for the title of the post. Troy is calling it my "Devil Furniture."

1. Because it is red.
2. Because he is trying to get back at me because I didn't keep it white. And he knows I was right. The red is better. And he can never just say that I was right. Which I was. I can admit when I was wrong. But not this time. Because I was right.

I got another picture when the color was a little better:

What do you think? Too much? I love my "devil furniture." Red as a great color. And it's keeping our main living area from being too "blah." It makes my "big box" furniture look more custom and special.