Old Table Redesigned into Our Own Beauty

When we first moved into our beautiful little house almost two years ago I had never even considered revamping old furniture with a new coat of paint or sanding it down and re-staining it to fit our style.  Pretty soon after we got married and I moved in I was going crazy because our furniture that we had wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it was all we could really afford...free.  This was when I began the process of learning ways to revamp our furniture.  Honestly, anyone can do it all you need is a little motivation and some researching to figure out how the heck it can be done.
We had a dining room table given to us from my in-laws.  I wasn't in love with it, but it was better than the alternative of nothing.  I'm not sure why, but I have never really loved this particular light stain (I'm not even sure it counts as a stain, I think it just had a polyurethane coat on it...and a thick coat at that). Let me show you what we started out with:

 
 All she needed was a little loving to make her ours.  To do this I used

• a belt sander
  
• 80 grit sand paper
  
• 120 grit sand paper
  
• 220 grit between coat sand block
  
• Minwax Red Mahogany 225 stain
  
• Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane 
  
• Wood Conditioner (optional)
  
• Foam brush
  
• old t-shirt
  
• tack cloth
  

First I started out by sanding with a plain jane electric sander...that definitely did not work.  It took days to sand and even when I thought all of the old finish was gone, when I stained it the stain would not penetrate the wood all over because there were large areas where not all of the finish had been removed.  This is when my Dad (who saves me from all of my big household problems) let me borrow his belt sander (sidenote: this took forever to get since I like about 12 hours away...I have yet to return it, sorry Dad).  If you can borrow a belt sander I HIGHLY recommend it! So, once I got that bad boy I made a trip to Home Depot to pick up some appropriate size sand paper.  This sander needed 3" x 21".  Be sure to look at your belt sander to check (it should show somewhere on the sander with the product number etc.). Once I had the belt sander the process moved pretty fast.  I sanded first with the 80 grit sand paper along the wood grain, followed by the 120 and then the 220.  Next, I wiped the dust off with a tack cloth, then used a damp paper towel to remove any other dust/dirt.  This is where the optional wood conditioner may be used.  Some types of wood will need this more than others, but I skipped the wood conditioner and went straight to the stain.  To do this I used a foam brush and brushed in long streaks along the wood grain, let the stain soak in for 5-15 minutes (depending on the instructions for the stain you choose and how deep you want the stain to be).  Now, I wiped the excess stain off with an old t-shirt and let the coat dry for 2+ hours (this also depends on the stain you choose so be sure to check the instructions).  This is what my table looked like at this point.

During the process Stain drying

 

Again

 If the stain was not yet as dark as I wanted, I added another coat of the stain, but did NOT sand in between layers. Sanding in between layers of stain will just remove the stain.  I ended up adding 3 coats all together since I have a love for deep, richly colored stains.  Once all of the coats of stain have been applied and dry you will want to grab a new foam brush and add a coat of polyurethane to protect the wood.  I applied this in long, smooth strokes along the wood grain like I did for the stain, but this does not get wiped off like the excess stain did.  For the polyurethane I used I allowed it to dry 4-6 hours before gently sanding with my 220 grit sand block and adding a new coat of poly.  I only applied two coats of poly, but if you want to add a third, just repeat these steps (dry time, sand with 220 grit sand block, add third coat).  Once the final coat is added all that is left is to allow it to dry.  I waited 24 hours before using my table (gently).  If you have kids, I would suggest waiting a little longer so that if there are any spills or bangs, you know the poly coat can handle it.  By the end, my table turned out beautiful.

Our new-to-us beautiful re-stained table

 

 

I love the deep colored stain

I definitely love the outcome and it has inspired me to redesign our not so fabulous dining room.  What do you think? Have you had any experiences with re-finishing old furniture?



Kasie