Yikes. Ruined some beautiful tables.

Nice job!

Not much of a table with a cushion on it, no?

Anywho, I like the idea. I'll have to scavenge Craigslist to see if I can do the same.

Looks great! White paint always adds a touch of brightness.

The horror.

Looks like a bench, not an "entryway table" as stated. I also agree that they looked better before-just needed a little sanding. The color was no nice. Now they look like they could be from anywhere but definitely not vintage pieces from your grandmother.

If it works better in your house, and works better with your style, and it makes you think of your grandmother, then don't pay any attention to the negativity here.

I think it's very sweet.

I absolutely loved the way they looked before - I love aged wood. So sick of boring white paint jobs :(

two words people....LEMON OIL! give that wood some love and watch it glow!

I like the idea of putting them together, but not the white paint. The new hardware knobs look cool, though, and make it more Deco. Too bad the pulls don't match.

Let's face facts--no home paint job is really going to look great. If you absolutely have to do this, take the pieces to a body shop and have them spray the furniture with auto paint. Dries hard and glossy. Even better for metal pieces.

I'm not wild about the styling or paint color, but I don't find the paint itself to be such a mortal sin. These are not fine antiques.

I think it's adorable! I really like seeing DIYs that are actually achievable without power tools, an engineer, or a design degree. Good job!

Ingenious! I like your spirit of creative re-use and willingness to roll up your sleeves & DIY.

(Calm down about the paint, people! No need for all this snark.)

sorry, but i really liked the before. the after, not so much.

Huge improvement!

Adorable! Very FUN!

If it's being used as a bench, then I like the idea. Without any context, though, it looks like a changing table. Which may not be the worst idea either, assuming you need one...

I like both looks! And I completely agree with patrick (the other one) as usual.

As it appears here, it's not white, it's an ugly shade of green. I think someone's camera has been dropped a few too many times.

Although I'm generally opposed to painting old wooden furniture, I think she's done a good job here. The wood was stained and banged up, and the uniformity of the paint brings out the detailing. The new knobs are nice too.

Perhaps the project could be more table-like and less bench-like with a slab of stone or coloured glass linking the pieces together.

I liked it much better before.

I think the cushion is both pretty and functional! Makes it a great place for lacing up shoes.

better before

I think these are made of Japanese kiri wood, which is really beautifully grained. Makes me kind of sad you did that.

I'm not quite sure why everyone is being so negative?!

I think that the after looks better in the space they are pictured. What I mean is, the wood before was just not working with the flooring. The floor color made the pieces looked old, damaged and out-dated.

I agree that I'm really over the whole 'paint everything white' trend but these don't really look white. On my screen they look gray and I'm quite in love with gray mixed with touches of bolder colors.

I'm rambling and the real point I'm trying to make is if you love it then it is absolutely perfect! It is your home, you have to live in it everyday so don't decorate to please others. I hate homes that look like they came out of magazines. A home should reflect the people that live there and feel alive with their personality, not the latest trends!!

I too am sorry to say, I loooved the look of the before. Even if they weren't valuable antiques, the wood grain and rustic look was just lovely. Now they just look clunky and stand out too dramatically against the floor. Sorry to see the pretty wood go. But I do respect that the owner chose to keep some sentimental items and make it work for her space/taste. Rock on!

Seriously? Y'all are going to continue to pile on this poor girl?

....you did a fine job!

I agree with patrick (the other one), ease up people! Really, it's just paint! My husband flips about painting wood too but (as long as it's not spray paint) a can of stripper, a hand sander and a little patience and you can have that wood back whenever you please.

Sorry, I'm also liking the before picture--maybe with a solid piece of wood on top to make it into a single piece.

Every time I see a bedside cabinet with doors, I get nauseous. In former times bedside cabinets were used to put (full) chamberpots in.

The paint is hideous and the bizarre pad on top makes it look like a place for changing a baby's diaper.

The paint is actually grey, and it now goes better with the rest of the house decoration. I respect some people prefer the original wood, but I don't. The cushion was made in order to link both tables (because I wanted to use them as a whole, and they were a little bent and didn't match) and add some cozyness.

Thank you guys for coming in my defense ;)

Those are DARLING, painted or not.

I like the paint, but the old knobs looked more modern to me. It is a good use for the tables.

I think the DIY is a good subject of "here are two ways to use one pair of tables". I think that the writing of the article, could have been refined and avoided some of the criticisms.
Such as the comments about the paint color.

I think a piece of wood or glass could have pulled the tables together as a table, versus the cushion.

I had a chest (?) on my back porch for a long time, I sat on it to pull my boots off, delivery guys left packages on it etc..... It had two drawers and legs that were about 1 foot tall. These tables look like they may be a similar size and may be perfect for sitting on too. Pulling off shoes in the entry way would be a good idea.

Anne K - I'm not sure where you are from, but chamber pots were a long time ago...... I would never associate the two.

Well ... To lik it may be if you had used some glass Shelves to Link the tables and then used another sheet of glass to add height.. it might have served you better as a table as opposed to a Bench.
To connect the tables you would need something like this
http://brasparts.com/images/brass-glass-brackets.jpg

and to add height use some thing like this http://designsinstyle.com/images/glass1.jpg

looks like a changing table!

Wow...I thought the original tables had a lot of character and personality.

Have you tried reversing them, so that the sides that are visually weightier (currently on the outside on both pieces) are in the middle? I have a feeling it would look more cohesive, especially if you re-hang the two cabinet doors so they both open out from the middle.

Or, to address Anne K's concern, remove the doors altogether.

Just a thought.

OMG! those like FABULOUS!!!!!!!! way to update a dated dumpy piece

I think the painted version works better with the floors.

Also, the lighter uniform paint really shows off the carved details in the wood. In the before picture, I had no idea what was happening on the small drawer fronts, and the bottom cabinet doors just looked like it had 3 lines carved in it, instead of the beautiful curved wood work. I think the paint did the pieces some good. If it were a simpler pieces, then the wood would be better, but since its so intricate and a lot is going on here, the wood grain and the wood tone was just too much.

I'm not really sold on the cushion, but whatever you enjoy is what you should do. I think grandma would appreciate the work and caring put into it.

i cant believe people liked these better before. as if you would keep them around next to your kartel and eames furniture or something.

instead of the cushion you could use a piece of beveled glass on the top.

This string is cracking me up.

What's up with all the hating?? I think that any AT post about improving a treasure from Grandma should have a filter against haters. If you dislike it, hush-up!

Ermm... actually caiti, I think I'm one of those who prefers the 'before' look but I have nothing against painting furniture and am very impressed with the sleek paintwork (presumably a lot of preparation went into this project before reaching for the paint brush!) and the new drawer handles. I have to say though, that personally, I really, really, would not have gone for the cushion at all (sorry, but I can't help thinking of a changing mat when I look at it). I wonder how they would have looked with two separate, more 'tailored' cushions, instead of just the one across both tables? Personally, rather than 'bridging' them with either one cushion or a single piece of glass, I would still have treated them as two individual pieces and would have gone for either nothing on top (!) or, caiti's bevelled glass, but with separate pieces for each table.

Still, that IS a smooth paint job and I have nothing but admiration for the effort that has gone into it! Heaven knows, I've got a few hand-me-downs that could only be improved with a lick of paint but I just can't get up the will power to prepare the surfaces... all that sanding...

I agree with whoever suggested switching the two tables around - I think the tall cubbies would look better on the ends than in the middle. Also, I think a solid top that overhung the tables by a few inches on each side would look great - and I would play around with leaving some space between the two tables, bridged by the solid top. Just some ideas. It's funny the things some people get worked up about on this site!

the paint job is great. they look clean and more modern. im confused by the cushion. you are skilled, but i dont get the reason behind it...unless you have a baby. then cool changing table :)

Oh my gosh. Can people have opinions? The folks telling people to calm down about their opinion....need to calm down. I didn't see anything out of order about anyone who liked the before better. In fact, I highly preferred the before look, albeit with improvement. I'm not a hater, or think the after is ugly (thought changing table was also a first thought for me). However, I prefer the position of the tables the way the she has them. If they were switched I think it would be awkward with the cabinets opening opposite of eachother and it wouldn't seem like one piece of furniture like she was going for. Great job with the actual quality of the after!

LittleMiss--

Um, empathy much?

Post your own DIY project, and have a boatload of strangers tell you how it was all a big mistake (that can't easily be reversed) and tell us how YOU feel.

IF (and only if) the name of this post had been "Help Me to Decide to Paint or Not to Paint"), then fine, have at it. Game on.

But that was NOT this post (or, for that matter, Cathy's budget kitchen reno).

Have some frickin' sensitivity.

I think it looks excellent. The only thing that I would change, though, is to switch the pieces around and reverse the doors. Other than that, great job!

The Other One,

How about I will have more sensitivity if you have less ;)
As for my projects, I have my entire family and several friends tell me constantly their "lovely" thoughts on them. Luckily my motivation for doing them was to please myself, not them, so I take it with a grain of salt.

I don't see the purpose of only posting agreements. I think the difference in opinions is what makes blogs like this wonderful (versus reading a non-interactive magazine or paper article) wonderful. Art is subjective and I would hope here, if anywhere, we all could at least recognize that . I don't think someone should have to state "Help me decide." I take the post a section for comments to be invitation enough. Maybe I'm just a meanie, but I tend to speak my opinion, both positive and negative, on blogs.

yes, patrick (the other one).

With great respect to your grandmother, I find these tables to be very unattractive, in either iteration. I speak as someone who has herself bent over backwards to rehabilitate bad furniture because it had some sentimental attachment, or I was just feeling cheap, or poor. Sometimes it's just time to let a thing go.