The “Do Over” Table

If you have ever watched cooking shows on television, you know how the miracle happens—you know, how the cook just finishes mixing up a cake, and seconds later pulls out a perfectly baked cake from the oven (sometimes with the frosting already on it??).

I think furniture-refinishing blogs use some of the same magic.  I mean, I can show you a “before” table like this one (yes the legs were originally white, but a little dinged up):

And end up with a picture like this:

…with no description of the blood, sweat, tears, and bad decisions that went in to it!

Today I will attempt to alter that misconception. 

I’m sure you’ve seen these pine tables everywhere.  I think they sell them at all the big box stores!  The top was originally in a natural wood finish, and what these tables have going for them is about 193 layers of polyurethane (they wear like iron).  I thought that I could just sand it down and be done with it.

Did I mention there are 193 layers of polyurethane?

Well, I thought I had it all off, and so I applied a layer of stain.  After letting it sit for a few minutes, I wiped off the excess—only to find it came completely off the table wherever I “missed a spot”…or twelve.

I sanded my now-slightly-gooey table again (which is kind of hard on sandpaper).  Stained again.  Wiped again.  Ahh, only 9 missed spots.

This was not going well.

Having worked on these tables before, I should have been smarter to begin with (obviously I wasn’t).  I finally did what I should have done to begin with—and that was to apply a healthy layer of stripper to remove the last vestiges of the original finish.

Sanded again.  Stained again.  Wiped again.

Ahhh….

So that’s my “do over” table.  No miracles, just a lot of work!

Wishing I had done it right the first time, and saved myself a whole lot of time and aspirin!

And wishing that all YOUR “do over” moments…are few!

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From Frigidaire:

The Frigidaire Gallery™Dishwasher gets dishes fully cleaned the first time, so there are no dish do-overs. Nearly half of adults admit to re-washing and/or re-drying dishes after the dishwasher cycle has been completed. To prevent dishwasher do-overs, Frigidaire® is stepping in with its new Gallery® Dishwasher featuring the OrbitCleanTM Wash Arm, ensuring dishes are cleaned right the first time.

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I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All the opinions expressed here are my own.

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