Refinishing a Wood Table

Dameian: Ashley, we just finished that table a year and a half ago.

Me: Yeah, but look at that huge scratch, scratches, gouges, that Roscoe put on the table top! How am I going to begin to fix it?  I’ll just change the whole table.

Dameian: You can do whatever you want with the table.  (Let’s be clear folks, he emphasized the word “You.”)

And so a table refinishing I went.  It’s true, when we moved into our home two years ago, we needed a dining table.  My dream was a rustic farmhouse table of sorts, but we couldn’t really find anything in our price range.  After many days combing local furniture stores, we decided to go to The Unfinished Furniture Store and buy a table.  We could finish a table, right?  How hard could it be?  I will tell you that it was really trying on our relationship.  Two perfectionists working on the same project at the same time is bad news.

The second time around, I knew it would be better for this to be a one woman project.  Check it.

Before, with an Espresso stain:

Beware, this is painful to look at, Cat Scratch Fever:

Step 1: I took this baby out on my deck and started to sand it with a sandpaper block.  After 20 minutes, I asked Dameian for a power sander for my birthday, which is July 10th.  I’m just saying.  In case you’re wondering.  The power sander helped immensely and I reached the natural wood grain in a few hours.  There was dust every where.  (I only sanded down to the grain on the table top, and just sanded the legs to dull the finish.)

Step 2: Brought said table back inside, vacuuned it, wiped it down, went over it with tack cloth.  Basically eradicated every little dust particle I saw.  Then I applied Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner with a cloth to the table top.

Step 3: Using a cloth, I stained the tabletop in the direction of the grain with Minwax Wood Finish Provincial color.  I waited 15 minutes, wiped clean, waited 4 hours and applied a second coat.

Step 4: Following Kate’s, from Centsational Girl, recommendation, I went with Minwax Wipe-On Poly.  I was not disappointed.  This stuff was a zillion times easier to use than regular polyurethane.  All you do is wipe it on, wait for it to dry, and wipe on more layers.  No worrying about brush strokes or bubbles.  Brush strokes and bubbles WILL drive you up the wall and around the corner if you use regular poly.

Step 5: I went to Benjamin Moore and had a custom creamy white mixed in Satin Impervo Enamel.  (The closest color chip was Mayonnaise.)  I painted the legs cream.  The Satin Impervo is an oil-based paint; it went on in a really silky way and only needed two coats.  Just remember, oil-based paints do not clean up with soapy water.  You need mineral spirits to clean your brushes, and you probably should reserve those brushes for oil paints.

Step 6: Step back and admire my new table.

I am pleased a thousand times over.  I really wanted to beat up the table top before refinishing it to make it rustic, but Dameian vetoed that idea.  Next up on my list of thousand things I want to do around my house, paint dining chairs in a matching cream.

Refinishing Table Tips:

• Do this project in a well ventilated area.  The fumes will make you woozy.
• Wear latex gloves when you apply wood conditioner, stain, and poly.  Your hands will thank you, and you won’t have dark brown hands for days.
• For a more rustic look to your wood grain, don’t worry about sanding down with less coarse sand paper.  I only used 90 grit.  If you want a fine, smooth finish, then you will have to gradually go down in sand paper grit.  (When refinishing wood, you will learn all about sandpaper grit.)
• Keep cats far away from your project!!

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