“This cabinet was given to us for free by my mom’s friend and I decided to stain it to match our new table and chairs. I gave it a light sanding by hand and then wiped it down with a tack cloth. I mixed two different finishes of stain together (a latex with poly built in and a gel stain). I’m sure you’re totally not supposed to do that, but it was the only way to get the finish and color I wanted. I applied the stain with a sponge brush (pay the few dollars extra for high quality ones from Lowe’s or Home Depot, I tried cheaper and the finish wasn’t as nice). I did one coat and then a lot of touch ups. I also decided to get rid of the window pane pieces to give it a more streamlined look.”
Before:
After:
I love the rich dark color! Staining is so much more work than painting in my experience (I loathe the sticky/oily feel when working with it) but your project shows it’s so rewarding. It’s gorgeous! Great transformation and lucky you, Lauren to score a beautiful piece of furniture for free! You did a beautiful job with it!
quick history- the table was given to us by my grandparents who moved down to fl and no longer wanted it. it was a pine 8-top piece of craftmanship with two removable leaves. here is a before photo without either of the leaves in.
after sanding the entire table at the wood shop on base, we were ready to start staining. we went with a black stain even though some recommended using black paint. here i am, staining the second coat with the leaves in. i told you it was big!
it ended up with 3 coats of stain and 3 coats of polyurethane finish.
the table was a piece of cake compared to the chairs. luckily, josh did most of the sanding, but i was still left with the majority of painting and covering the seats. check out the old twill seat covering!
josh removed the seats with his handy dandy drill and i covered each of them with a staple gun. the hardest part was getting the corners nice and tight without any fold in it. i actually hated this procedure but someone had to do it and it was not about to be josh. he just pointed and laughed at my frustration. and then took a picture.
we were told we didn’t have to sand the chairs all the way down to the bare wood if we used spray paint instead of stain. and that is exactly what we did. sanding anything previously stained down to the bare wood is a pain in the you know what. if there is a short cut, i will take it. and i did. how many cans would you say it takes to cover six chairs? you are wrong, it took 19. NINETEEN! you may be wondering what happened to the other 2 chairs? well, lets just say they are getting a pretty little slipcover for now. the base actually ran out of the spray paint we were using and we didn’t want to risk having two ugly ducklings by using a different brand. if we ever need all 8 chairs, the slip-covered chairs will be placed on the ends of the table. maybe someday when i get the crazy idea to refinish a dining room set again, i will tear off the slipcovers and spray away, once again. here they are, all lined up, drying in the sunshine. ta da!
the chairs took three cans each to cover completely. i then covered them with a thin coat of polyurethane so it had the same sheen (low luster) as the table itself, and to protect them from getting scratched up. below, is a finished chair. i am happy.
and for the grand finale!
it is finished and i am very pleased that it is. you will not see me jumping on any more refinishing tasks.. for now. hey, you wanna discuss those candlesticks? because i do. they are steal with tons of bead work. originally, they $50.00 for the tall ones and $40.00 for the shorter one. you wont believe what i paid for them… $28.00 total. let’s just say it together- “what a deal!” now let me fill you in on yet another secret- they are actually taper candlesticks! however, with the help of the hub, i removed the taper holder and voila! i bought these springy tri colored pillar candles separately to liven up the dark colors. enjoy!
