The laaaasstttt table (this year!)

Just about the time I was trying to clear out my garage, THE table came along. I thought it was the perfect table. It was big, it was solid wood, it was in terrible shape (meaning it was pretty cheap)!

Look at those loverly legs!



The table included two leaves, and it extended to something over 8 feet long. I love that! With a family of eight, we have to have a BIG table in order to put any company at the table with us!

The table was solid pine, which wasn't ideal...but not horrible. You can see from the pictures that the finish was shot, and it looked as if it had been used as a craft table for a year or two.


I managed to sand down to bare wood without killing another sander.


I have a little Dremel tool that is great for getting in the edges. When the sandpaper breaks and spins off the rotating head, though, it always makes my heart stop!

I was so pleased with how Minwax English Chestnut stain looked on the hand-me-down table that I decided to try it on this one.


I used Zinsser 1-2-3 primer on the apron and the legs. Another interesting feature of this table is that the table top is not actually attached to the base...it just sits on it. It weighs a ton, so it wasn't in danger of moving anywhere! The fact that it is a separate piece should have clued me in to a potential problem...but it didn't. (Are you noticing the foreshadowing??)




My electric heater was drafted into service for this project. The temperature in October rarely got up to 65 for more than an hour or two, and the garage stayed much cooler than that! Although my heater couldn't really warm the garage up too much, it did keep the chill off enough to speed drying time a little. Not by much!

I love you, little heater!

The legs and apron got painted with Sherwin Williams Creamy, and then distressed and glazed with Burnt Umber craft paint. It's a combination that has worked well for me in the past!

Once again, though, a table top came near to driving me insane. Once it was all stained, I gave it a couple of coats of Minwax Polycrylic for protection. It was all going well, until I stood back and realized...it was too perfect! The color was glorious; the finish was shiny...and it wasn't at all what I wanted. I was going for a little more time-worn and well-loved...and it wasn't. It almost looked new again!

So...the next step:

CitriStrip!

Yes, it's true. I stripped the finish off my barely-completed table top! It was a mad, mad day. And I mean that in both the "angry" sense and the "crazy" sense!

Naturally in some areas I ended up back at bare wood again, but that was OK. I painted on stain instead of wiping with a cloth, and that gave me more of a streaky finish (that I mean in a good way) rather than an even color. I distressed the table top more, and then I painted MinWax Polyshades in Antique Walnut over top to give it a richer depth of color.

After two coats of Polyshades, I used two coats of Minwax Wipe-On Polyurethane.

The result??

Well...it was better. More to come!