my crazy seasonally inappropriate project

Back in the days before I had sons I bought a kitchen table and chairs from IKEA. It was a great deal. $129 for everything. It was small but fit nicely in our tiny little North Carolina kitchen.

But then I needed a desk. And we couldn't ever have anyone over for dinner because it was simply not possible to seat an extra adult-sized person at our table. So, I had a flash of brilliance one day and decided to buy a second copy of the exact same table. Perfect right? It served as a desk for many years, 95% of the time, and whenever we had guests we disassembled the computer from it's printer and screen and speakers and moved all the papers and stashed everything on the floor of a closet. Then we would shove the tables together in the middle of the living room creating some sort of mega-table with 8 chairs and then after dinner the whole process was replayed in reverse.



In this house I have a little built-in computer nook in the middle of the hallway, from which I can hear everything and send an evil eye to naughty children jumping on each other's heads in the playroom. No need for an computer table. Luckily I have the most enormous dining room. And a the same little table. So now we have the mega table year round, and when we have guests we can create a bunch of different seating arrangements just by rotating the tables.

Great right? Except remember I said that I bought these tables back before I had boys? Boys that like to stab their forks into the soft Swedish pine followed by a good scribbling with a fat Sharpie? Not really the lifestyle that the IKEA designer was envisioning for my dorm-style table.

The older table was already restained and varnished about 3 years ago to help extend it's life. Not so pretty anymore. Thus, in an attempt to stall the purchase of a new kitchen table until after the next move, I decided to paint them black. In the middle of the coldest week in January. I put them in the garage to paint only to find out that the can of primer froze solid overnight. Lame. So I ended up bring the table back into the dining room on a giant tarp and painting them inside. Which was working well until it came to the final coat of my favorite old friend Polyurethane. Such great stuff but so smelly. So now I have a stinky table in my kitchen with the windows all open trying to get the table dry and the fumes out. We may all have a paint-high by the end of the day,and I still have the second set to still repaint. But hey, we will have better looking tables if anyone wants to come over for dinner.