I have taken up furniture refinishing. and my first victim was this $7.00 coffee table I found at my local thrift store. It wasn't too bad but it was missing a couple corner pieces and had its share of scuffs and scratches. But I knew I could add some new corner pieces and the scuffs and dings in the wood didn't worry me since I'd be sanding them off.
So the first thing I did was sand off the sticky stuff and gunk that was baked on the top and then applied some paint/finish stripper. I worked in small sections because if the solution dries too much it won't come off. I used Jasco's spray paint and epoxy remover just to see how I liked it but I'd recommend the old fashioned paint on with a brush kind. It didn't remove the finish as evenly unless you used up a TON of the spray and it was much cheaper and effective going the other way.
after the stripper sits for the suggested amount of time I took a putty knife (metal works best just be careful not to gouge the wood) and scraped all the stuff off. It was a long process but it was well worth the effort!
After it was all dry I went over the whole table with my sander and then wiped everything off. I was almost temped to stop here and just apply my polyurethane finish. The wood looked so pretty! But no, I had plans for this baby!
I got some frog tape at Lowe's (and I'll just say this stuff is amazing!!!) It was on the spendy side for what I am used to paying for tape but worth EVERY PENNY! I needed something that wouldn't let anything seep under the tape. Next, I spent a good 2-3 hours taping off my checker design on the table top. (I had Dan help carry the table inside to our living room so I could tape it off while we watched some shows on Hulu late at night. Dan was fast asleep by the time I was finished but if you know me I have to keep going until I reach a good stopping point. I think I was finished about 2:00 in the morning. I thought it even looked good with the green tape! :) just kidding
Next the table went back in the garage and I masked the rest of the table off with some kitchen trash bags that I cut open and some masking paper. I wanted to be sure I didn't drip any stain outside of where my checkers would be.
Then it was time for the fun part!! I love staining! I did 3 coats of stain (with drying time and light sanding with steel wool inbetween coats) until I got the color I wanted which was to match the drawers on the front of the table. (I didn't strip the drawers because they weren't made out of real wood and I didn't want to try and stain pressed board when they were already in pretty good shape).
This is a picture after just one coat.
The table is just about done. I'm just waiting to do 2 more coats of polyurethane but I'm waiting on my hubby for that because we just got a new toy! We bought a sprayer to hook up to our air compressor and he's going to show me how it works first. I just need to get the right quick release coupler for the hose. I am so excited and am so happy with how it is turning out! I especially love it with the one coat of poly I've already brushed on because it turns the wood a bit of an amber color that is so yummy!
I plan on reselling the table for at least $200 but we'll see what happens.
1 comment:
Did you sell the table?
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