If I was going to do something REALLY fun I would get a table with a pretty shape, either ground or oval, and not too big, strip the finish and paint it. And barely noticeably, I would paint the claws with a red or pink color to simulate nail polish. if I were honest I would admit that I would have someone else do the work and I would just do the nails. :)

I have an old round claw foot table. We used it as outside dining on a covered porch. Now we moved and it it sitting in the garage awaiting repairs from my DH. I want to use it in our "breakfast" area in our kitchen for quick meals when I am otherwise occupied in the kitchen. I think how that kind of table will look depends greatly on what you already have going on in the room as well as what the table looks like. The one I have is very old and massive, with no finish left on it, and the veneer on the top is peeling ( hence the need for repair). Can you post pics of your table and room where you want to put it?

Please leave the wonderful old claw foot tables for people, like me LOL, who appreciate them. Keep looking for something that suits you.

Paint it. Unless its an expensive antique, Id paint it in a heartbeat. Black, antique white, turtle green, whatever would look good in your color scheme. Look at the new collection in homedecorators. coms site for some painted antiques inspiration, they have some furniture from Italy thats a new addition to their catalog. Anyway the finishes are cool and you could get a nice effect for an older styled piece and give it a "new" old look. Sorry if this offends anyone who is opposed to painting old furniture. It could always be stripped if you changed your mind down the road. If it was a rare table Id be opposed to ruining it, but if its just a nice old piece, sometimes paint just gives it a new lease on life. I painted an old trestle table for my kitchen black, and everyone likes it.

I agree with pollyanna. If it isn't rare and worth tens of thousands, go ahead and paint it! I have seen articles showing nice old pieces that are just too dark and heavy for many tastes these days that have been painted vibrant colors-they look wonderful and the new paint really seems to expose the nice lines of the piece. Lighter, clean and crisp (creams, pale greens, blues, etc) colors look lovely, too, if that is better with your interior. JMHO :)

We have an antique piano chair in our foyer, it
has claw feet grabing glass balls, it's
very cool.

I agree with Roses. I love old clawfoot tables, but we have alot of antiques and traditional items in our home. I'm not sure how you would make a clawfoot more modern. Painting might work??? I think you could find something more suited to your style if you keep looking.

tina

You can't make something that is already cool be cool. Clawfoot tables of any variety are cool. No need to paint them unless they are damaged in some way. If you want to "update" one, have a marble top made for it instead of the wood top. That's also a classic. Or do a plywood overtop for it that you can decopauge with old newspaper or magazine cutouts or wrapping paper or wallpaper, etc. That lets you have something fresh without damaging the table itself.

Paint it -- and decoupage the top with tarot cards ....

I think if you find a junky or repro table, then go ahead and paint - but echoing what some others have said, please don't ruin a beautiful antique table- leave it for those who appreciate it!!! I like greendesigns ideas, too...

A junky repro table won't have massive claw feet. Sell it and buy a junk table and paint that.
Why do you have it if you hate it? Sell it to someone who will love it.

Here is a link that might be useful: ONE EXAMPLE.