This was my first attempt at a dining room set. I originally found the table at a local Goodwill store. It was in pretty good shape, but it needed some new stain and some scratches sanded out. I learned a lot from this project, hoping some of these tips might help you!
This was the table when I got it home. It was all solid wood and in great shape. I started by using my Ryobi Orbital Sander. I usually always start with a rough grit, 60 or 80 grit to do all the dirty work first. I always make sure to wear a mask when doing this and safety glasses. Once all the old stain and finish is sanded off, I got to a higher grit sandpaper, usually 150 grit, to smooth out the project before I paint or stain it.
Once it was all sanded, I loved all the natural wood grain. I couldn't wait to stain it with my favorite General Finishes Java Gel stain. It was one of the first nice March days here in Wisconsin this year, so I thought it was be a great idea to stain this all outside. So I put the stain on like I normally do with a foam brush and then I went to wipe off the excess, but it was almost all dried up. What the heck!?!?Well. this little table heated quite a bit being in the sun for 30 minutes, which is hard to even imagine in Wisconsin during March. It heated up so much that the stain dried instantly. Bummer. I was so frustrated, I just threw it in my garage and decided to try it the next day. Lesson learned, stain inside in shade.
So the next day, I sanded off most of the stain and reapplied the gel stain. Here you get a little view of my work room/garage full of furniture/projects.
After the stain was dried (about 24 hours), I applied Varathane Triple Thick Polyurethane in semi-gloss. I applied the first coat and let it dry over a day. Then lightly sanded with 320 grit sand paper and applied a second coat. I love using this polyurethane for tables or desks that will see a lot of traffic. It is so thick and goes on great in just two coats. Next, I was on the hunt for a set of four chairs. My hair dresser and also furniture friend Lori, had four of these chairs for me. Funny story with these chairs is I had seen them at Goodwill along with my friend Kim, but two of them were kind of loose. And then Lori had texted me a picture of them in the next few days, saying look what I found! And then somehow they ended back with me.
I decided to paint the base of the table charcoal grey and all the chairs a lighter grey. I love grey! I mixed my own chalk paint using Behr interior matte paint and Plaster of Paris. Often I paint inside my condo as the natural lighting is a lot better than my garage. It makes it a lot easier for me to see and get full coverage with paint.
I have a love/hate relationship with chairs. I hate painting them, but always love how they turn out afterwards. They just take so long to paint and have to much detail. I really need to work on that sprayer. Someday! I then sealed all the chairs in General Finishes high performance top coat in flat. I absolutely love how this table/chairs turned out and it sold very quickly. It was almost a keeper until I found another table/chairs. Those are soon to come in a future post.
Thanks for reading, XO
Shayla
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