Kitchen Facelift

When I moved into my first apartment I didn't have a kitchen table set. I made do with a card table and chairs while I shopped around. My budget was extremely limited and I sure didn't like anything that I could afford. One day my friend Laurie and I were passing time and driving around Los Angeles, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It was late in the afternoon and we were trying to find our way back to the freeway when we happened upon an "estate sale" on the edge of Beverly Hills. The homeowners were getting ready to haul back inside a kitchen table and 4 chairs. While talking to them I found out that the set dated back to the 30's and that they had refinished and reupholstered the table and chairs. We settled on a price, half what they wanted, but all of what I had on me at the moment. We hauled it back to my apartment and Laurie was a really good sport about giving up quite a bit of personal comfort on our way back to Orange County. The table set served me quite well, as it was, through 4 apartments and finally to my townhouse.

Eventually I had to take it to an antique refinisher to have the chairs re-glued. They were horrified by how dated the entire set looked. So, I decided to have the table top refinished and to have the sides, legs and chairs painted a brick red color and distressed. Then I recovered the chair seats. I liked the look so much that I had my china cabinet (which I acquired off the curb at my parent's neighbor's house) painted the same brick red color and distressed. I must say that I really liked it and my friends always commented about how "Pottery Barn" it looked. Well, in our current house the china cabinet is in our dining room with the big dining room table and the little red table and chairs have been in the kitchen.

Anyhow, this is what it looked like. You may have noticed that there were only 3 chairs. Basically, certain family members (who shall remain nameless) demonstrated extreme difficulty, repeatedly, in being able to stand up without knocking over the chair upon which they were seated. It soon became unrealistic to continue sending chairs back to California to be repaired.

So, I bought new, much heavier and sturdier chairs. Black chairs. And today I painted the table sides and legs black, leaving the original table top. What you can't really see in the picture is that the table top has an inlaid wood border that is really dark, almost black. I'm quite pleased with the finished project and it really quite nicely ties together the entire kitchen.
So? What do you think? And please don't forget to check on the latest poll!