Natwerk Designs

How can I "modernize" our country kitchen table?

Its looks like this except the legs are white. Are there any color ideas? Should we keep the top surface wood or paint it? It has 4 chairs and a bench seat. Please help! http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.davidmaxim.com/resources/img005.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.davidmaxim.com/5.html&h=336&w=423&sz=23&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=BeWMBtYP2M6GIM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcountry%2Bkitchen%2Btables%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN I want to keep our budget down, so I dont want to just go out and buy a new table.

Public Comments

1. Strip it and stain it. Or white wash it.
2. maybe paint it black? and do silver detail if your creative.
3. I had a table exactly like that. It's not the table that looks country so much as what you put on it. But is it's the table that you don't like, black is as contemporary as you can get. Darker furniture is in right now, so go for black or dark brown. I'd try painting just the legs first and leave the top natural and see how you like it. You could also paint the bench and chairs except for the seat part and even distress the finish a little so it looks older and more natural.
4. paint it black it will make it look more grown up and modern also silver would be modern but i dont know if that would look good also you can put glase on top of it to make it look fancier
5. I used to work for WOOD You furniture in Springfield, MO. I now work with about 9 furniture stores and warehouses in the Springfield area and I build furniture as a hobby. In my honest opinion, if you want to modernize it then you might want to antique it. Leave the top of it stained. But paint the legs and then after the paint cures a few days, go back with about 150 grit or 300 grit sandpaper and sand the legs to rough them up. Then, in some spots around the edges or wear areas lightly sand through the paint so the wood is visible. Use a tack cloth to remove all the dust then stain the painted areas again. If the color of the table is to your liking then use that color. Some people generally like a light maple stain when doing this. Make sure to wipe the stain evenly over the paint and the sanded through spots. Allow it to dry. Then go over it with a eurathane coat. Sand with 600 girt when dry. Then sand with a 1000 grit when dry second time. Then sand with 5000 grit when dry. Then with a 6000 or higher grit when dry. Wipe on one more coat. And you are done. You need at least three coats to prevent water rings from forming on the table. The eurathane is how you get your smoothness. The paint and wood grain has peaks and troughs in its surface. The first coat is like throwing big rocks in a hole. It is a little smooter but not a lot. The second coat is like throwing smaller stones in the same hole on top of the bigger rocks. It takes a lot of the depth away from the troughs and starts flatting out the rough surface. Then you do it a third and fourth and so on. The more coats you put on, the smoother it becomes. You can get to the point to where you are rubbing it with cheese cloth for smoothness or notebook paper. Good luck.
6. Paint the legs and seats black, keep the top wood color. I've seen this look at Ethan Allen: Black with wood--updated country look. also you could tile the table top, but don't use white tiles, and use black grout if you paint the legs, etc. black.