Table Top

I'm back with another DIY! I bought a duncan pyfe table off craigslist not too long after we moved in. It was $100, how could I say no! Also, it was the perfect size for our large living/dinning combo. The only trouble was it was a little (a lot) dinged up and a little wobbly. Luckily my Dad stepped in and glued the legs back together so it was good and sturdy. But then it was up to me to make it pretty...

This is the surface we started with. Scratches galore.

The full table. Also my handy sander, and my super messy garage. 

Look at those claw feet. Rawr!

And one more of the top of the table. The insert must have not been used as much since the finish was not as worn. The cool thing is that it still pops in and out like a charm. They just don't make furniture like they used too.

So I sanded and sanded and this is what I ended up with. I purchased a product that didn't require me to fully strip the wood. I just needed to sand it down enough to open up the grain so it would accept the new stain. The power sander worked great on the top, but I had to hand sand the legs. 

 Ah, sand dust particles.

I figured I should aslo do a layer of the Sander Deglosser to get rid of any polyurethane and just clean it up some. This stuff is kinda awesome. I used it to "sand" the dresser and nightstand in guest room 1 to much success. Its super easy and quick. Rub it on, wait 10 minuets and your surface is ready to accept a new coat of paint.

The deglosser cleaned up the table nicely and I figured I was ready to go with the stain. I also ran over the table and legs with the shop vac to get rid of any dust particles.

The tools for the job. I choose the Polyshades because like I said, it can go over pre-stained surfaces. It blends uniquely so you end up with a custom shade. I chose the mission oak hoping to end up with a medium tone wood and to help take some of the red out of the old stain. I also followed the directions and treated the wood with the pre-stain.

The pre stain really darkened everything up. It was a lot like oiling a saddle, which I used to be an old pro at, so this step went super easy. 

And layer one! The hardest part was making sure I didn't leave any brush strokes and picking up stray corgi hairs. It definitely turned out a little darker than I first hoped, but I was still happy. And it looked a lot better than what I started with. 

The first coat did leave it a little streaky, but I knew it was going to take a couple of coats to even things out. 

Two more coats layer and a top coat of poly and this is what I ended up with. The table definitely turned into a labor of love. I touched it too soon after the 3rd coat and left a smudge, thus the additional coat of poly. Honestly I could probably even re sand and touch up a few places, but I think its one of those things that I could mess with for the rest of my life and never be 100% happy. MLW was pleased though and made the decision to move it on it. 

And there it is! I'm happy to report I'm liking the chair combination with it, even though the wood tones are different. I'm thinking of adding white end chairs for a mix matched finished look. See this and this for inspiration. I'm super glad I like the 4 chairs we already have though. I was deathly afraid that I would get the table in there and decide we needed 6 new chairs. 6  new chairs = expensive. 

This is the view peeking around our ginormous christmas tree. I sorta knew this before but placing the table in there made me realize that my window is off center, but the light is centered in the window. Thus everything is too far to the right side of the room. Its very tight on that side right now and basically impossible to get in and out of the sliding door. (The GIANT christmas tree isn't helping) That being said, I see swaging a future new light fixture to be centered in the room and not the window. I also have plans to move the white cabinet to the back right side of the wall.

Here is the view from farther back. See what I mean about the window? The table needs to move about 3 feet to the left to feel more balance in the room. Luckily a few little tweaks and a swaged lighting fixture mean we will be in business in this room in no time! Sorry for the nighttime photos. I'll try to do an update in better light so ya'll can see the color better.

Im pretty proud of my little table diy and keep getting more and more confident with doing things myself around the house. It is definitely helping us save money and its kinda super fun. 

Happy Holidays!

Betsy