I have been wanting to know how to refinish furniture for quite a while. Mom has done quite a bit. Scott did our kitchen table when I was pregnant for Adelyn. I had to opt out for that reason. So when we decided it was time to do the dining room table, passed down from my grandpa's sister, I was extremely excited.
I went off of Scott's knowledge of what he remembered from the last time. We began during June. I had no activities going on and neither did the kids. We got our stripping stuff, the scrubbing things, the sanding tools, wood staining brushes, and Pecan wood stain. I knew nothing about stain so I assumed the color and brand was fine. The stripping and sanding were very tiring and I had to take a few breaks. Doing the table legs was difficult with the amount of creases and cracks in them. When we got to the staining part, it went on super thick regardless of how hard we tried to put in on thin. It was kind of a redish color as well. It looked nothing like wood stain and more like we had painted it. So we decided to try again. We had sanded before stripping which is backwards.
Round 2
Stripped the table. Sanded the table. Stained. Still looked painted. Sigh. Called Mom. Mom said she always used Minwax. Thinking about redoing the thing again sounded exhausting. I showed a few people who were also very confused. My neighbor Brandie discovered that the color may be the problem. So I went for it.
Round 3
I went out and got an Oak color from the Minwax brand. Brandie also loaned us her electric sander which made a huge difference. I still had to do the table legs by hand with all of the creases. We got it completely ready for staining. After wiping it with water/vinegar, I took a break. When I went to apply the new can called Weathered Oak, I saw that it went on looking like wood and looked completely different! Yes! My friend Kari, who was visiting, thought it looked much better as well! Brandie came over and confirmed our thoughts. So I took a couple of days putting on coats and letting it dry. Mom and Dad came to visit and they helped me work on it AND start on a desk for the kids that needed to be refinished. Mom and I were putting finishing touches on it and noticed that the color looked more gray when put on than it did previously. We couldn't figure it out, but we finally was ready to put the polyurethane on. Yes! I was ready. After working on little details with sanding and staining I was ready.
After Mom and I put a coat on though, it left gray dots on the table. Uhhh, why? We tried to fix it, but it smudged. Um, no. This was not happening. Seriously? I tried to re-sand it the tiny spots and re-stain but the color did not look the same. It had the really gray look. I was fuming. I was not about to re-do this table again. Dad tried to do a different color but sanding it even more made the wood look different. Fail.
Round 4
So after Mom and Dad left I tried to re-do particular parts but that Weathered Oak did not look the same as it had the very first time. The other color dad tried was not staining as dark as it should have. I tried a 3rd color that also did not stain as dark as it should have. I went for it again, but this time just the top. There was no way I was doing the detailed legs again. I re-sanded and made sure the wood all the same. I decided to get the darkest color I could find and went with Dark Walnut. I put the first stroke on. Much better!! I covered the table in a couple of Dark Walnut coats. When it came to put the polyurethane, I was feeling a little paranoid. If this table got messed up again, it possibly would have to go to the junk yard. We had considered it a few times at this point. I polyurethaned with a foam brush. I wasn't and still am not particularly thrilled with the brush marks that I can still see but it was way better than what it had been before!!
Here it is below. Began in June of 2013 and brought back in the house in September. After 4 rounds of sanding and staining. The top is ever so slightly darker than the legs and I can see a few brush strokes but at this point...I'm good.
Here is the desk Mom and I started while waiting for the stain to dry on the table during round 3. It took 3 days. So much easier and so much more cooperative. No problems with polyurethane.
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