How to refinish a table

One day a long time ago my parents bought this table in the midst of our child hood. My parents raised 5 kids serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at this table. Along with dying eggs on Easter, doing our nails and sometimes home work this table has seen a lot of use over the years. It was handed down to me a few years ago and has treated me and my family well. But it is ugly, scratched, stained and chipped and I wanted a new table. But this one is nice and well made so I decided to re finish it.

 

STEP 1: Move the thing outside

 

 

Sanding inside is not an option so get someone to help you move it outside.

*this is the only step I needed help with.. just wanted to note that

 

STEP 2: Sand it

 

Now when I say sand I hope you realize you will be doing this exclusively for a couple days.. depending on the annoyance of your chairs. Mine were highly annoying so I spent a lot of time sanding. P.S. BUY A FREAKING SANDER! This will save you time and the cost of pain meds when you develop arthritis after this project.

 

I used the highest grit sand paper and had to go over the top about 5 times. Then sand with a finishing paper to get it all smooth. The legs can just be stripped. You can let the kids help with the legs, They can't mess it up.

Finished staining the table., Next the horrible chairs. make sure to get all the paint off so the new paint can adhere properly.

 

STEP 3: Stain it

 

Pick a nice stain and make sure you let it dry completely between coats. That way you can see what it will look like. Obviously do the same amount of coats on the chairs as well. I did three coats to get my color. After it has dried over night put a few coats of polyurethane on it.

Make sure to keep an eye on the kids... found Luke in the side yard eating grapes, I asked him what he was doing and he said he was picking grapes for grape pie.

 

 

STEP 4: Paint it

Obviously do as many coats as needed to cover everything, I needed two or three.

Turn the chairs over and try to paint at every angle so you get everything. Especially between all the spindles. SO ANNOYING!

 

STEP 5: move it back inside!

Make sure you let him know how much money you saved by re finishing this table instead of buying a new one. Oh.. and make sure to emphasize doing it all by yourself !

                                                                  

                                                        

 Add some decoration and some grapes from your child's "grape pie" idea and there you have it!