Almost forgot to take a before photo to show you the table we got for our dining area. We picked up the table and four chairs at a local indoor flea market for a very reasonable price. Since the table appeared to be solid wood we decided we could sand it.
You can see the terrible condition the table top was in.
Gary used an electric sander and sanded the whole table in the direction of the grain.
Afterwards I dusted the table and wiped it all down with a damp cloth to get all of the sanding dust removed. The I brushed on this pre-stain and let it sit for 15 minutes.The prestain allows the wood to absorb the stain in a more even tone.
Then I put on five coats or more of this wood stain. I was trying to get it darker like the legs but finally gave up and decided it could darken with age. It's kind of nice to be able to see the grain of the wood.
Next I've put on one coat of varathane. It has to dry for at least four hours, then I'll put on two more coats, sanding lightly with 200 grit sandpaper before each one. The chairs have cushions and the seat covers are worn and ugly so I'll recover those. They'll have to wait till I can find our air stapler to staple the material to the seat bottoms. I'm really surprised how a little sanding and staining has brought new life to old wood. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.
O! The table now looks like a new one!
ReplyDeleteIt is the fist time I've ever heard of "electric sander". The process interested me a lot. Great job, Linda!!
Hi Sapphire, thanks, I guess I meant power sander. Ha.
ReplyDeleteLinda, if you still want to tone down the top you can apply a colored wax.You can pay a lot for Briwax at a woodworkers store or believe it or not, use shoe polish.( I used to be in the restoration business)
ReplyDeleteLove the warmth of those wood grains. How wonderful to bring it back to life.
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be beautiful. Good job. I love hitting flea markets and making great finds. Good job!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great.....and you would have to spend a lot of money to buy it in retail store....:)
ReplyDeleteSo often furnature just needs a little love to make it beautiful again. You both did great.
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful. I've never been in the business, but always used shoe wax for projects like unfinished wood frames. We had the kids finish all the molding in an unimportant room with Kiwi. It looks professional.
ReplyDeleteHi Dennis, thanks, shoe polish, now that is new one to me, thanks for the tips.
ReplyDeleteHi Elephant's child, thanks, we took a risk buying it not knowing how it would turn out but we are happily surprised.
Hi Turquoisemoon, thanks, we definitely surprised ourselves on this one.
Hi Dee, thanks, and some of those items in the retail store are not made as well.
Hi Lori, thanks, Gary did the elbow grease and I did the fine tuning. Ha.
Hi Joanne, thanks, there's that shoe wax again. I must get some and try it, I noticed some furniture in the retail stores had the feel of a waxy finish, nice and soft.