Walmart Kitchen Table Makeover

I am so pregnant, but I managed to sneak in one more client job before we welcome this baby to the fold. Today, we will be looking at a makeover I did for a client who just bought her first home. She is looking to make it her own without breaking the bank and wanted to start with this table and benches she got from Walmart.com. I know some of you might be skeptical about buying furniture from Walmart, but this set is really well made and all wood at an affordable price. Honestly, it is a great set as is, but she wanted to give it a little more character, so we decided to lighten and distress it up. The result is a cozy, little farmhouse table.

The top of the table had a great butcher block finish, so we decided not to touch that and just focus on the apron and legs. As with all my client pieces, I used Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan. We went with one of my favorites and a classic, Old White. Followed with lots of distressing with a 150 grit sandpaper and finished off with Annie Sloan Soft Wax in clear. I used a tiny amount of a 1:1 mix of Annie Sloan Soft Wax in dark and clear on the detailing of the legs of both the table and benches to make the aging and distressing look more natural. Cutting the dark wax with clear softens the look as opposed to using it at full strength. I highly recommend this when applying over Old White or your piece may become too muddy.  

I love the way the detail of the legs pop once you lighten them up. The black hid those beautiful curves. What do you think? Are we crazy for painting a brand new piece? We don't think so!