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.
