Painting the Dining Room Table

I've been pining to paint our dining room table for years. Fortunately my husband is on-board with the idea. The big debate now is what colour to paint it and whether to keep the top as natural wood or paint it as well.  Oh, and whether to paint the chairs or not?  

Our dining room furniture was bought by my grandparents in the 1920s. They were missionaries in China and when they returned to live in Canada, they purchased this dining room set second-hand from another missionary family. The set, which likely dates from the early 1900s, includes a table, a sideboard, and a china cabinet. The chairs (with the exception of the armchair) have all fallen apart so we use black IKEA chairs instead.

The dining room set is made of oak that has been stained a dark mahogany as was fashionable in the Edwardian period.   I always have a tablecloth or runner on the table as the surface is not in the best shape in a few places.  Plus I love buying table linens at thrift stores and entertain myself by using different table linens every few days. 

I've been combing the internet for inspiration as to what colour to paint the table. Let me show you what I have found.

I could paint the table black and refinish the top and leave it wood-toned.

Nuevo Estilo

Or do the table and chairs white with a natural wood tabletop.

Miss Mustard Seed

Or I could paint the entire table white and keep the chairs black.  

Stories of a House

While I like both the black and white options, the colour I'm seriously considering is gray.  You can see in the photo of our dining room that the lower cabinets in our kitchen are gray and I was thinking I would use the same paint on the table.  What do you think?  Too matchy with the kitchen? Or a brilliant plan to tie everything together and create a visually calm room. 

The next three pictures were the best photos I could find with gray dining room tables.  

BHG

If I went with gray then the black chairs would need to change.  I was considering painting our IKEA chairs a yellow colour like in the photo below.  The advantage of the yellow is that the chairs would look good with the gray table and kitchen cabinets and with the pale green walls and dark green tiled floor.  Also the dining room is open to the family room which has a sofa that has green, gold, and brown in it and a gold framed etching over the fireplace.  I thought that painting the chairs yellow would tie the dining room and the family room together.  The biggest disadvantage is that the yellow chairs wouldn't go with all my tablecloths (although they do match a surprising number of them - I've been taking note).

Cococozy

I like the woven seagrass chairs with the gray as well (like in the photo below).  I can't see replacing all the chairs, but maybe we could get four to go around the table on most days and when we have a crowd we could bring out the black IKEA chairs. Our table has two leafs and can extend to sit at least ten people, which happens on occasion when everyone is home and we have company.

decorpad

Or I could just go wild and paint our table turquoise.  Mind you it wouldn't relate to anything else in the room, but I sure would love the table painted in one of my favourite colours.

Thoughts?  What would you do?  I'd love to hear what you think.