Herringbone Table Makeover

Today I am sharing my Herringbone Table Makeover with you! This was a great way to bring life back to our old table.

This was a risky project for me. Painting a white herringbone pattern onto our dining room table could have been a disaster! But thankfully, I freaking LOVE it!!!

You can now find this herringbone pattern used as a backdrop for many of my current blog posts. Check out this French Toast Casserole Recipe, this Crochet Headband Pattern or Roll a Grinch Game for examples.

It can’t really get any worse than this before shot, can it?

We’ve had this table for years! It’s been through messy toddlers times two, who have recently moved on to creative art expression with markers. And being that we had pretty much scrubbed the finish right off of the table ~ drawings had become ingrained in the wood.

So I began by taking over the garage and sanding the stuffing out of our poor table.

After sanding it to a fine finish and making the table look like new, I decided to paint a herringbone pattern onto it. I found an image {via google images} and played with the scale until it was the size that I wanted. Then I printed it onto card stock and cut out the negative spaces. At this point I was like “okay, this might be cool”.

I continued to paint the herringbone pattern {with acrylic paint} over my entire table. By now I was getting a little worried. Too much pattern and contrast? But it was too late to turn back, there was no way I was sanding off all of that paint!

So I decided to give my pattern a distressed finish and lightly sanded the herringbone before applying 6-8 coats of clear varathane finish.

I am so glad that I stuck it out. I love the finished product!

Adding a fun pattern is great way to update a sad looking old table and give it new life!

With over 6 coats of finish, it should withstand the creative chaos of a bevy of children for quite some time {fingers crossed they don’t find the wood burning kit}.

Wouldn’t this be gorgeous if you used a dark stain instead of the white paint? Maybe in another 5 years…

We have a leaf for this herringbone table makeover that I painted and refinished too.

More of my essentials for crafts:

We love using these Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints (aff link) to add bright color to all of our projects.
These paint brushes (aff link) are ideal for most craft surfaces and a great price!
This art supplies kit (aff link) is our favorite because it has everything we needed to get started.
This rolling storage cart (aff link) helps to keep our craft supplies organized.

I’m going to do a full dining room / kitchen reveal as soon as I
mop the floors, wipe the finger/nose prints off of the sliding glass door, dust the buffet, do the dishes, clean the stainless steel appliances, throw together some knick knacks and…
find a million ways to get out of doing my chores ;)

Hello, I’m Heather!

I'm an active mom of twin boys who is always looking for opportunities to inspire creativity through fun crafts, do-it-yourself projects and delicious recipes. This blog has been an integral part of supporting my little family and I am so grateful to have you become a part of our journey! Let's create together... Read more...

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Claire @ a little something in the meantime . . .

12 years ago

This looks awesome, Heather!

I love chevron prints for cards, artwork etc. but this herringbone will be so much more classic and timeless for your family’s table.

I can’t believe you created this with just a cardstock stencil! Way to go!

Thanks for sharing it again on your blog :)

Laura@Corner House

I love this. I will be featuring this on my blog tonight.

Jessika and Jeff

I love this, so beautiful!

twelve-O-eight

Found you via Tip Junkie, love your table redo, I am a new reader :) Tanya

Liz & Holley

The table looks beautiful! What a great idea to bring new life to it! We’re your newest followers!

Kristin

Oh wow! I am in a horrible table envy mood now, lol. This is awesome!

Visiting from HoH

Shannon

I am addicted to table redos–and this one is spectacular!! Love it!!

Shannon@SewSweetCottage

I'm Busy Procrastinating

Great choices for your table makeover. I’m addicted to herringbone. You could do it so many ways — with different paint colors, with stains. The table looks great, and I hope you’re still enjoying it in its new life!

joelle

10 years ago

Do you mind sharing the link for the google image you used? As I am searching, I am having a hard time finding one that looks similar to this one. Maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but on your stencil, it looks as if the left column marks are shorter than the right column ones and I LOVE it! Thanks in advance! Crossing my fingers I’ll be able to pull this off!