I have some strange obsession with my kitchen table. I bought it over 8 years ago because it fit into my budget (which means it was cheap) and it was totally boring. Just your standard white/wood farmhouse style table from a basic furniture store that is no longer in business (which says a lot for the boringness of the furniture they sold). It looked just like this:

It was the perfect size for the tiny kitchen nook that I had at the time and being able to fold down the sides made it even more practical. However, it was definitely a blank slate that was crying for me to personalize it! 

For my first attempt at renovating the table I painted the white areas black and re-stained the light wood areas a darker stain. It looked pretty good, a definite improvement and it stayed black and dark wood for about 3 years. This is a terrible picture, I know, but it’s the only picture I still have of it in this state, so it will have to do:

Since I was going for a distressed, vintage-inspired look, I didn't bother sanding the table before I painted. Once it dried I used a screwdriver to scrape away some of the blue paint to expose the black paint beneath. I sanded off the shiny varnish and then sanded certain areas to expose the older, lighter wood. Then, I had fun beating the table up with some chains, a crowbar and a hammer. Seriously, it was so.much.fun!!! Finally, I sealed the finished table with a clear, matte polyurethane. I was stoked with the results! Here it is in my old apartment:

I still love this freaking table! We thought about getting a newer, higher quality table for the new house, but I'm just not ready to let it go yet. This boring, cheap table has evolved, it has character and a story now and I love it even more because of that. Here it is in our current kitchen: