I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

Well it took me three week(end)s, but I did it - I finished something!!!  You may remember my post a few weeks ago about some projects I was starting.  Well, I finally finished another one of them.  Can you guess which one? 

If
you
guessed
the
closet,
you're
absolutely,
unequivicobly,
wait for it,
wait for it,
steady,
steady,
*Billy Blanks saying "fifteen more seconds"
"fifteen more seconds"
*five minutes later
"fifteen more seconds"
.......

 just a little more filler now...

WRONG!

Yeah, I'm still totally intimidated by my own closet.  I haven't touched it, except for the few times I've actually gotten dressed in the morning.  Which yes, I realize, violates one of my goals.  I do try to get dressed every day, but sometimes just changing my shirt doesn't happen until after lunch.  What can I say?  Food comes first.  Every time.

What were we talking about, again?  Oh yeah, I did finish something...the breakfast table!  You may recall this pic, taken that fateful Saturday when I bit off more than I could chew:

 But that isn't our true "before" pic.  We actually inherited this table from Pat's sister and her hubs.  AKA Ronnie and Becky to those in the know.  It is an IKEA table, solid wood, and it came with this finish:

 That is the underside of the table.  Alas, I can't share a true "before" shot because we didn't take one.  It was really a nice table already, but I worried that it would clash with the deeper wood tones we have on the floor, the deep chocolate cabinets, and the deep wood butcher block counter we want for our future island. 

What I originally wanted was a solid creamy white table, but I (again) worried that we would scratch a painted table top with years weeks of use and abuse.  We considered staining the whole table a deeper tone like our floors, but balked at the idea of sanding every nook and cranny.  So we ended up with a plan for a hybrid painted/stained table.  Pat stained and sealed the top while I was still pregnant with Madison, and therefore useless in all things house related.  He also primed the base, but ran out of time/steam.  I had a lot of projects for him to do before our princess could come home, and this just wasn't a priority.

Three months later, I was finally able to resume my rightful place as official painter in the Philpot household.  This was to be my shining moment.  I shimmied the table out through our back door (by myself, which was probably the most difficult part of the entire renovation) and set it up in the tiny sliver of shade behind the house:

 and I got to painting!

 I only got one coat on that first Saturday, and then  the table lived in our kitchen as-was, tape and all, for the next three weeks.  This last weekend I was finally able to get another coat on it (Pat helped me get it out through the back door this time).  Here it is in all its glory:

What do you think?  Did we make the right color decision?  Would you have gone a different way?  Are we crazy for spending so much time on a perfectly good table?  Have you wrestled any furniture lately?  Who won?

-Kelli