Fusion Midnight Blue Dining Set Makeover

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Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in with you all. I hope you are enjoying the fall weather and the transition to the holiday season.

Things here at Lost & Found have been a little chaotic lately, but I’ll share more about that another time. Today, I want to show you a new color I have been working with.

 

 

Meet Midnight Blue, the new, dark-navy from the Fall 2016 Fusion Mineral Paint line.

I have been anticipating trying out this color for quite some time now, so when a free dining set fell into my lap (yes, I said free!), I knew just what color I wanted to use.

I have made over six dining sets now in total, and let me tell you . . . They are a beast of a project! I can really only manage one maybe every 8-10 months.  I can’t decide if the harder part is refinishing the tops or painting all those chairs–either way, they are long, slow projects.

I thought it might be fun to take a quick stroll down memory lane, and see the past sets. Will you take a look with me?

First was the Aubusson Blue French Provincial Set,

 

 

and next came the French Linen Duncan Phyfe set.

 

 

Then there was the Drop-Leaf set,

 

 

another Duncan Phyfe set (I think this one may be my personal favorite)

 

 

and one more Duncan Phyfe set, to round out the tour.

 

 

And so now, it’s almost like I’ve come fill circle–this most recent set looks very similar to that very first French Provincial set!

 

 

Sorry . . . I forgot to snap a “before” photo of the table, but it had that solid honey-stain finish on it just like the chairs.

Overall, the set was in pretty good condition. The table top had a few dings and scratches, but it was nothing a good sanding with my orbital sander couldn’t fix.  A few of the chairs were wobbly, but I was able to reinforce them with some well-placed screws and wood glue, and now they are a sturdy as ever.

Once I sanded the original finish off the table top, I gave it coat of MinWax Pre-Stain Conditioner, then 2 coats of Minwax Jacobean stain.  I sealed the top with 3 coats of Fusion Tough Coat by wiping it on with a lint-free rag.

If you want to learn more about my process of refinishing, you can read about that here. 

The chairs and table base took 2 coats of the Midnight Blue to get full coverage, then a light distressing on the edges finished it off.

I did find that after I sanded the Midnight Blue the finish streaked some, so I wiped a very light coat of Fusion’s Beeswax Finish over the painted surfaces. The Wax Finish took care of any streaking and gave the blue a nice, soft lustre.

With a little elbow grease and some TLC, the past-its-prime dining set is ready for a new round of entertaining!

 

 

This set actually has 3 leaves and a custom-fitted glass table top–just goes to show how big of a steal buying old (or getting old for free in this case) and refinishing can be!

 

 

I had some trouble getting the lighting right for these photos. After photographing the table in 2 different spots in my house and at 2 different times of day, I had to give up and move on to other projects.  The Midnight Blue kept wanting to turn purple in the photos–but trust me, it’s a true, deep navy.

 

 

I may have not been able to get the paint color right in my pictures, but I did manage to snag a fun photo of my cat 🙂 He got sick a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t sure he was going to pull through. Thankfully, in the past few days he has turned the corner and is now on the mend–back to being his mischevious cat self.  Isn’t he so cute??

Thanks for being with me today and for following along on another furniture makeover. I would love to hear what you think about the Midnight Blue–where could you see it in your home?

And if you are local, the Midnight Blue Dining Set–6 chairs, table, 3 leaves, and custom glass top–is available for $550.