(partly) re-decorating the kitchen

lilja4ever

Hi all! I need advice... It's decorating advice, so I'm not sure I'm in the right place to ask!

We bought a new table off ebay, for £50 and later found out it was worth £595!!:jThe table is round, with an oak top, and has painted legs, in a greeny-cream colour. The colour in itself is very nice, but the rest of the kitchen is a creamy yellow. And we have a kitchen dresser in french blue/grey.

Our current dining chairs are really ugly (we got them for free years ago), but we can't really afford new chairs, so we're thinking of painting and re-upholstering our old ones.

So my question is: what colour should we pain the chairs? Creamy yellow to match the rest of the kitchen? I liked the idea of blue to match the dresser, but would it be too much, seeing as the table will be next to the dresser? The final option is to keep the nice greeny-cream of the legs, and match the chairs to that. But would that look weird next to the cabinets etc.?

Also, I was told it was ok to use eggshell paint straight on top of the chairs (they're varnished, we think). But should we sand them down first? I'm worried it won't work if we don't sand, yet at the same time I'd rather not have to sand!!!

Any advice appreciated

danofessex

sand them down and if you want a really good job use a high quality primer, before painting.

nickj_2

i have just finished painting a dining roomtable and chairstoday for one of my customers
i sanded them all down , gave a wash over with sugar soap and then primed with zinsser primer
zinsseruk.com/shop/Product.aspx?cId=130&pgId=355

and then gave it 2 coats of dulux diamond satinwood

lilja4ever

Right, so taking shortcuts is not a good idea then! Damn... Still not sure about colours, been browsing some home magazines but I'm unsure!

danofessex

if you have a item that you like the colour of take it to a paint stockist and theirs a good chance their be able to get a match or a very close match.

Shortie46

If you haven't decided all ready, how about either painting all the legs (including table) creamy yellow to match kitchen, then reupholster chairs in a pretty blue fabric to match dresser, or blue legs and cream fabric. Satinwood is better than egg shell paint, it drys quicker is water based and low odour. Dulux will probably mix a colour match up for you aswell. Hope this helps!

lilja4ever

Ha! That is more or less what we're thinking of doing... I work for an upholstery company so I can get fabrics and hide pretty cheap... We're getting French blue hide to reupholster the chairs. As for the colour of the legs, well it's still undecided. Maybe creamy yellow to match the rest of the kitchen... Or, I was thinking, a light grey, as it's neither blue nor cream, yet neutral enough.