Table Redo (Part Deux)

Remember the dining table I told you I refinished?

Boom! (Click the pic and you can get a fabulous close-up)

She's a beaut' ain't she?! I randomly sit down at the table throughout the day and rub-'er-down. Is that bad? I truly think I could just sit and pet the table all day, okay maybe not, but she's pretty damn fine, huh?! I'm thinking I should probably name her since she apparently owns a little piece of my heart. 

All I did was sand, stain, paint and seal. Not particularly in that order but you catch my drift. 

I started by sanding the legs by hand since they're oh-so-curvy. I could see that the table had been painted red prior to the top coat of white, so someone must've given her a makeover once before, which makes me happy because it means the table has been repurposed several times and has had plenty of use (and we Rumbargers plan to give it plenty more). 

I chose to paint the legs before moving on to the table because I planned to spray paint the legs (because of the curves) and I didn't want to get spray paint on a newly stained top. 

So I started with an oil based primer on the legs. It took about five super thin coats of primer to cover the legs. I'm the queen of all things spray paint so I know that it's important to apply thin, even layers in order to avoid drips. By the time I was done priming the legs, I only needed a couple coats of oil-based white spray paint. I let the legs fully dry for more than a day before moving on to the top of the table since I knew I'd be sanding and I didn't want sawdust sticking to a still-sticky table leg. 

The next day I pulled out the big guns - the electric sander - cue the scary music: dun dun duuuunnn! Luckily, my love bug is a man's man so he owns every tool, power tool and outdoor gadget in all of the universe. I started with fine sandpaper but that was hardly making a dent on the horrid finish. So I bumped it up to 80 grit and that did the trick. The finish came off faster than I expected but it still took about 45 minutes to strip it all the way down. I probably didn't need to sand as low as I did but I've never stained wood before so I wanted to err on the side of caution (word to the wise - sand with the grain, not in wild circles). 

By the time I put down the sander and wiped the sawdust from my face, the top of the table looked like unfinished wood…like straight up lumber from Home Depot or the lumber yard. I wiped that puppy down and whipped out my stain. Woot! I was stoked!

I ended up going with 'Red Mahogany' because it matches our buffet which sits in the dining area. I simply snapped a pic on my phone and then stood in the aisle of Lowe's holding my phone up to every can of stain I could find. I'm sure I looked like a crazy lady as I tilted my head and squinted my eyes trying to decide between finishes. In the end red mahogany won and it matches perfectly, which you can see in the picture below. The buffet is obviously front and center and I was able to capture the corner of the table (which you see at the very bottom of the picture) for easy comparison.

I brushed the stain on (with the grain) and let it sit for a good half hour. The back of the can suggested to leave it on between 5-15 minutes and that the longer it sat the darker it would be. I really like the way it looked and was hoping that it wouldn't get any lighter when I wiped it. When I wiped the stain off (applying very gently pressure) the color barely changed (yay) but my rag looked as though I dipped it in a can of stain (boo). 

I let that dry and then sealed it all with several coats of a water-based polyurethane. This locked in the stain, made the finish nice and glossy, and perhaps most importantly, made the table wipeable (a must with three kids).

So there you have it - my purdy refinished table! 

Do you likey? I do! And an added perk is that I came well under my $200 budget that I set for myself:

Table - $75 (from Craigslist)

Power sander and sandpaper - already owned

Spray primer - already owned

Spray paint - already owned

Stain - around $7 or $8 from Lowe's

Poly (clear gloss) - already owned

Paint brush for stain - already owned

Foam brush for poly - $0.39 from Joann's

Total - $83.39

If Tabitha the Table could dance we'd be bustin' a move right now. But Tabitha is an inanimate object, so I'll just sit here and pet her instead.




Xo,


Lor