With any dining room the table is a big decision. A table can make a large statement, or simply be the perfect compliment to other pieces in the room. For our dining room, I wanted something that would be a statement: big, bold, and beautiful.
Our home definitely has a trend of whites and taupes with pops of grey and bold blues, but with the dining room, the table needed to add dimension to an overall subtle color palette. I bounced around the idea of a natural dark wood table, but I thought the overall feel of dark stained wood would be a little more formal than the general vibe of the house. That led me to black; the perfect compromise.
As I mentioned in the dining room reveal post, I was on the hunt for a table with larger statement legs. After a while of checking Craig’s List at least three times a day, I found a winner. Almond colored legs with bronze/gold painted top. It needed a lot of love, but I knew I could talk Ryan into the challenge.
A mistake I made early on decorating this room was just adding too much stuff. From the get-go I purchased a table that was too big, plus I added chairs on either end. This didn’t leave a lot of space around the perimeter of the room. After this misstep, I wanted to remove the captain chairs all together. I didn’t want the table to look empty without any head chairs, so I thought the idea of crossbars connecting the end legs would be a good way to balance the lack of chair.
The problem: I needed to find something to make the crossbar out of. I searched the internet for something that was similar to the twist design of the legs. I finally settled on stair spindles. They are slightly tapered on either end which I think works well and doesn’t make the table too bulky. I couldn’t find the exact ones I purchased, but these are very close.
Ryan cut the spindles and connected the two with a dowel and wood glue. We then chose a good spot on the table’s legs to place the crossbars. He used a forstner bit to bore a hole in each of the four legs for the new crossbars to sit.
When it came to painting, we used flat black spray paint on the entire table, legs and all. Then added a polyurethane clear coat only on the top and then wet sanded (the top only) to get a polished uniformed finish.
The finish product is beautiful and very budget friendly.
