Wow, it has been a really long time since I've posted on the blog!
I've missed my blog posts, and have taken photos over the past year with the intention to curate some posts that I have just never put together to pose. Tyler's grandma (probably my most consistent reader) mentioned she missed the posts, so I've decided to put together some new posts and do some rekindling on here.
I will probably share some DIY projects, and I've gotten more into photography which has taken over most of my free time over the past couple years, so I may share some related posts in that category.
Today I'll be going over my dining table makeover from earlier this year.
Earlier this year, I decided to redo our dining table. Some of you may remember when I added a mismatched leaf to this same table, well I've gained a little more courage, expertise, and 4 matching chairs so I decided to redo all of them to coordinate.
I had two main goals with this project:
-to lighten up my dining room with lighter and less yellow/orange colors
-to get the table and chairs that are not the same set to coordinate
I don't have a good before of the chairs - they were just that bad. They were basically just a dark brown color. I may do another post focusing more on how I redid the chairs, including recovering the seats.
To really capture a coordinated look, I decided to paint the frame of the chairs white and paint the table legs white, but stain the backs of the chairs and the top of the table with driftwood stain.
As you can see the original color was what I like to refer to as "orange glow" and also had a lot of dents and scratches.
The table also had a thick varnish. I used chemical stripper and a paint scraper with a dropcloth to get the majority of the gummy varnish off first.
Once you see the varnish lifting you can start scraping - be sure to wear gloves and don't let it get on you!
I probably used the chemical stripper 3 times with the scraper before sanding.
You can start to really see the original wood color.
Now that there is no more shimmer or gummy varnish left, it is time for the sander.
I live in an apartment, so in order to keep noise and dust at bay I used manual handheld sanding pad. It would be much faster to use electric.
See the difference already?
I'm an impatient person. I couldn't just finish sanding the other half, I really wanted to see how the stain turned out. I was also too impatient to take pictures, but keep scrolling as I did for the next half.
Same process with chemical stripper and sanding on the other half.
New stain vs. original wood.
For the stain process, I used Rustoleum's Driftwood stain and Minwax's Early American stain.
I mostly used the driftwood, but I added dabs of early american to add some warmth - the driftwood by itself is very gray.
Just use the rag or towel to blend the stains together until it looks even.
With the paint-stain, it tends to cover up a lot of the wood grain. I still wanted to see some of it, so I used dry paper towels after I had rubbed all the stain in to bring back a little more wood texture.
The stain looks a lot lighter when it isn't dry.
See the makeshift leaf as before. I used the same chemical stripper and sanding process, as well as the same staining process. I believe I added a bit more early american to get the same tone since the natural wood was a lighter color on the leaf.
Table top all stained!
I believe I ended up going back and adding a touch more early american stain to the left side and the leaf. You can tell they are more gray - it just needed a little more to warm it up. It wasn't too much to just go back over in another coat.
Looks like I didn't take any photos of the paint process. Most tables have some screws or some sort of fastener underneath, it works best if you can flip it upside down where the top is on the ground.
Remove the legs and paint seperately on a drop cloth or plastic tablecloth (I love getting seasonal tablecloths on sale to use as cheap dropcloths). I used Color Place antique white satin interior paint. Once the paint cured, I have not had any issues with scratching, scuffing, and any food or coffee has wiped off easily.
Once I removed the legs and had given the top a couple days to dry, I took the top outside and used spray polyurethane to seal and prevent water damage. I like using this because it doesn't shimmer like old style varnish, but still protects the work.
Once I removed the legs and had given the top a couple days to dry, I took the top outside and used spray polyurethane to seal and prevent water damage. I like using this because it doesn't shimmer like old style varnish, but still protects the work.
I did completely sand the chairs and table legs so the paint would have a surface to really adhere to.
I would say I did 3-4 coats of paint. Painting things with four sides is very time consuming!
You can tell the stains set a bit differently on the chair backs and table top in the photos, but it is less noticable in person. We've really loved our table since pulling it together and making it really look like a dining set.
It may be the second time I've redone this same table since we've been married, but I've loved it so far so I think it will stay the same for a while this time!
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