Furniture makeover: children's table & chair set

I love love love me a good garage sale!
Our older sis Sandee is the Q U E E N of garage sales... she is the type to not only find a designer piece of furniture/clothing/home decor/etc. at an already low price, but will talk the owner down to pennies and walk away with something the rest of us sisters covet, (like your recent PB robin egg blue console table, San! Gimme it!)  But, she is very generous with her good finds, always calling us to report possible matches for things we are hunting for.  I mentioned I wanted a little table with chairs for my toddler and within a few weekends, I got the call.... a set for $10!  Score!

Here's an "after" of the now striped chalkboard table & chair set:

And take a looksie at the weather-worn Nantucket table & chair set BEFORE.... yikes!

  When I brought it home, my husband told me I got ripped off!  LOL

Yes it was multi-colored, yet it was beaten up, yes it was chippy as it had been rained on, yes it was stained, yes most of the joints were loose and yes it had seen better days BUT, it was also the perfect size for my toddlers reading nook in his play area.  I had to try!

After a thorough scrubbing {as well as peeling off stickers & nail polish from the surface,} I spent a good hour tightening each of the screws and bolts so the piece could withstand a busy 2-year old was sturdy.  For under $20, I snagged a few cans of white/gray spray paint, a can of chalkboard paint and a roll of painters tape from the local home improvement store and I was set.  I first gave the table a fresh coat of white paint, then sprayed the seats of all 4 chairs white:

 Once dry, I taped off each chair seat every 2" to create stripes.  I then gave each chair a thorough spray of gray paint and slowly peeled away the tape to reveal a fun nautical striped pattern:

I decided to maximize the play/use for this cute table as best I could... my sons reads on it, has snack time on it, plays with his cars/puzzles/toys on it, colors on it, etc., so I thought, "Why not color with chalk on it, too?" :)

After applying 5 thin coats and letting it dry, I sanded down the edges of the table and all 4 chairs to give it the distressed look you will see on most of Lolly Jane's projects:

To finish off the set, I whipped up the numbers 1-4 in a coordinating nautical-ish font, cut it out to use as a vinyl stencil, and applied a quick coat of black acrylic paint that I had on hand:

 I now had a set of 4 cute chairs, personalized for pennies and labeled 1-4:

I have a feeling the labeling will come in handy in a few years when toddler & baby boy #2 start fighting ;)

As you can see, my little one is LOVING his revamped set- especially the chalkboard paint:

 ...and I am loving how EASY PEASY it is to clean up!

For around $30, I salvaged a set that works great in my home.  Don't let husbands critics sway you to not try something new... I am sure glad I went for it and made my hubby eat his words when the set was completed and he told me it didn't even look like the same table or chairs and he was glad I kept it.  

I am always amazed what a little elbow grease + spray paint can amount to! ;)

So, any good garage sale finds for you lately?