Well, I’ve been at it again! This time I took a perfectly good butcher block table from the in-laws and refinished it. Before you get all judgy-face let me explain that it had a yellowish polyurethane on it. And if you’re an avid reader of my DIY section you know I loath the yellow poly look. So, while I loved the table, I hated the yellow.
So, I sanded off the poly and sanded down the legs. The top was maple, the sides were something else and had a slightly pink tint. You can see this in one of the images below where the top is white-ish and the legs are yellow-pink. This presented a bit of a problem when it came to selecting a stain that would apply evenly to both the legs and the top. Before I get to that, let me walk you through the abuse and reincarnation this poor table went through. It’s exhausting, mind-numbing and frustrating.
- February 22, 2014: Sanded table top using belt sander (photo above)
- February 24, 2014: Applied Bombay Mahogany stain. Didn’t wipe it off afterwards.
- March 8, 2014: Sanded off horrible staining job using circular sander. Took forever.
- March 14, 2014: Applied Jacobean stain (Miniwax) and wiped it off this time. Yup, learning by trial and error is tedious stuff. (See second image below.)
- March 18, 2014: Applied another coat of Jacobean and wiped it off. Look okay, but there are some marks on the top from the original belt sanding from late February.
- Late March, 2014: Husband unhappy with the belt sander marks. Sanded down the whole thing. Starting over. Sanded down the legs as well. (see first image below.)
- Early April, 2014: My husband applied Bombay Mahogany to the legs and top.
- Mid April, 2014: Husband doesn’t like the mahogany. It didn’t go on cleanly because it was a poly-stain mix and dried too fast.
- Late April, 2014: Sanded down the table again. Starting over.
- Later April, 2014: Applied Jacobean in two coats, wiping between coats.
- Daily, early May, 2014: Applied a coat of poly protection each day, sanded with 320 between coats.
- May 9, 2014 (today): Got so sick of seeing the table in my work area that I painted the legs black and applied a final coat of poly to the top. I’M DONE WITH THIS TABLE!!!!
So, after all of that here is the final product. You can see a few circular sander marks on the top. Screw it, they are staying! This was a tough first staining project for us and it took three months to get it to this point. I like it, and it looks better than I anticipated from the start of this long-lasting project. Anyways, here are a few photos! First photo is without a spray protection on the legs. The second photo I lightly (320 paper) sanded the top coat of poly and applied a protection spray to the legs. Looking sexy, table!
I like how the legs kind of bring out the darker legs on my blue suede chairs and blue booth. Yes, I have a booth in my house. I’m that cool.
This table has been SOLD. See my other items on Etsy at Fernweh Originals or visit my Facebook Page, Fernweh Originals.
