Good morning!
It's been a while since I posted on here. As you can imagine with the holidays it has been pretty busy. Aside from the time of year, I've also been sick (during Thanksgiving no less), then four events later, I've been burn-out and exhausted.
So much of my time was spent laying in bed and playing the SIMS. I did find time to do a bit around the house, including refinishing a table!
We had been searching for a long dining room table, but couldn't find any that we liked or that we could afford. However, a chance find on Facebook Marketplace gave us this gorgeous table! Only 75 dollars! SCORE!
The table was all hardwood, and was obviously hand built. Very much in our style. However the light stain wasn't applied properly, and clear brush strokes were visible. It needed to be cleaned, sanded, stained, painted, etc. Lots of TLC.
The Process
I started with a good cleaner, cleaning the wood with the grain and working on the nooks and crannies. I continued to go over the the table until my cloth came up clean, no more dirt. Then the sanding started! Starting with a basic sand paper grain, I worked with the grain of the table. Starting with the top and working down to the legs of the table. Between takes I would run tact cloth over the table to collect the dust.
Note that I wasn't trying to strip the stain off the table. The table's light stain was very shallow and would easily be covered up by the deep espresso colored stain I was going to apply. However, I need to clean the table and sand it to remove any contaminants and to provide a smooth medium for the stain to set in.
As for the legs, I knew I wanted to paint them rather than stain them. The legs are made of a bit rougher wood, and provided a bit more aggressive sanding to make it smooth. Honestly I spent most of my time on those darn things.
The first coat of stain and paint. Painting was second as little flecks of stain will drip down onto the paint. I did a first coat of the white paint knowing I would need a second. The first coat of stain set really well, but you can still see a few brush marks. That usually happens with the first coat.
Note: I was ecstatic that there was no "bubbling' in the stain. Bubbling happens when silicone contaminants are present in the wood--therefore repelling the stain.
I sanded again with a finer grain to prepare for the second coat of stain. Once again, I sanded and used the tact cloth to remove the dust particles. If you don't remove them they will be very obvious in the finished product.
FINISHED!!
Two coats of white paint and two coats of stain later we have a totally transformed table! We are very much in love with the finished product. It was a time consuming task, taking three days. The main factor in the time was how long it took for the stain to set.
My total cost for this project was $100 dollars. The only product I had to buy extra was my stain. I already had my cleaner, tact cloth, white paint, brushes, sandpaper etc. IF you don't have those estimate the total cost at $150 dollars.
Our next project is to get a bench stained and painted in the same fashion, and a few nice chairs for this long table. In the meantime, we have other projects to finish and holidays to enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know about your awesome projects!
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