I have used Annie Sloan chalk paint and love it, and I've also used latex. I don't use poly as I don't care for the look. I have used BriWax that I had on hand in both light and dark brown for my projects and it's very protective. Are you stenciling a design directly on the (assuming) wood grain table top, or are you painting the table and then stenciling? On this recent project, I used Ben Moore Symphony Blue latex paint and little jars of acrylic metallic craft paint for the gold fleur de lis. It has the light and dark wax on it for an antique look, in keeping with the age of the piece. I might save the chalk paint for an item you use without feeling you need to poly it, as it has such a 'soft' look on its own that is very nice. See the difference in the blue paint color once the dark wax is used? Only the drawer fronts have been waxed in the pic, and all the rest of the blue is just the paint at that point.

Hmm...I like the solyx films, thanks. I'll definitely consider those. I've painted the wall white, and the doors black. I'd take pics but I've been painting trim for other rooms and the house is a mess right now. Maybe later today. Not sure about the stile width tbo123. I'll try to remember to measure for you later. There are always other projects, Rosie! We did a mudroom addition to this house, and I'm trimming that out right now, then I'll get to do built-ins in there. (Honestly, I hate trim work, takes forever and is monotonous, but must be done). We have a bathroom that is just studs and rough-in plumbing right now. I'm looking forward to starting that. The loft needs a few finishing details. The laundry room hasn't really been touched, just tiled and then threw the W/D in there. It looks like crap right now, but at least it's functional. Lots of projects! I'd be happy to share if anyone is interested.

Removing tub and making larger shower is not an option. They are across the room from each other. Making shower larger would require moving toilet and that's definitely not in the budget. I do not use if often, but when I want to use it, I love that I have it. I don't have a lot of time for it, but I do love taking a bath now and then. Even if money were no object removing tub is not something I would do. I would be willing to replace it with a soaking tub. I don't really care about the jacuzzi part. I don't even turn it on because I like bubbles. So, I could look at a soaking tub, but I'm pretty sure that's just not going to be in the budget. Unfortunately, there isn't much room in the budget at all. I'm not crazy about the reglazing option. I don't think I'd be happy with that (and I know DH wouldn't). I think I'd rather leave it as is and work around it. I can look into cost of a soaking tub, but I think I'm going to have to make this work. Hopefully, my tile choice can make it not stand out so badly. What if I buy extra tile for the tub decking (which is not very big). Then if I could change it out later, I would have the tile to redo the surround. Or maybe when I could change it out I could use a slab of something that matches tile on floor? Or try to find another granite slab that would go with counter?

It was a good decision, though, agmss. I believe SW is one of the companies where the sample is not the same formula as their real paint.