the story of a little ikea table

my mother in law is an auction-shopping champ & found this adorable little ikea table & chairs set for kenna around her first birthday:

it was the perfect shape & size & SO cute, but the bright, almost neon colors just weren't quite fitting our decor.

[yes,  this blog post is actually a not-so-secret excuse to revisit all these adorable pictures of my firstborn when she was just a tiny fry!] 

so i painted the yellow chair pink & the green chair yellow, & gave the table a fresh new spritz of white. much better! it was such a handy thing to have- extra seating for little cousins, a 'kids' table at a few holidays here, & the perfect little art table [since i knew if it got too much paint/crayon/whatever on it, i could just repaint!] we've even pulled up the little chairs at the coffee table for snacks or movie nights.

fast forward a few years & another toddler in the family up to a few weeks ago- i discovered martha stewart had come out with some new chalkboard paints that came in really beautiful light blue & green. i picked up some of the blue thinking i would paint her little toy chalkboard & make it just a little prettier. then i remembered the little table!

it was the perfect little project to try out the chalkboard paint on- it turned out great! the texture & color of the MS chalkboard paint is so lovely- it's really smooth to the touch & doesn't feel chalky at all. when you wipe it clean you can't even tell it's a chalkboard, honestly! 

now the little table & chairs have been reinvented for what i'm sure will be lots more use by the little ones of our family!

[ps- i was not paid to say how awesome this product is, however... a note to martha since i'm sure she reads here: your product is lovely & i will definitely use it again! if a position opens up for official full time product tester/reviewer/blog-proclaimer-of-product-awesomeness, i'm the gal for the job.]