Refinish an Old Kitchen Table

When I was getting married and moving out, all of my friends and family seemed to see it as their opportunity to get rid of all their old, unwanted furniture. "Give it to the newlyweds! they need furniture," must have been what everyone was thinking. In many case, this came in handy. I didn't have to buy expensive furniture or hunt it down somewhere, but a lot of the stuff I was given was old and not really fitting with my preferred style. Luckily, spray paint exists! I've refinished quite a few items now, but I feel like my kitchen table is one of the most dramatic transformations.

This table is really well built and stable and it has two leaves so it can be small enough for six people or large enough for ten to twelve if needed. However, it wasn't in great condition and I wasn't a big fan of the oak color. I don't even have a good before picture because I didn't think to take one and I always had a tablecloth on it to hide the scratched and stained tabletop.

Here is the table with the table cloth on it when it was in my apartment.

Now that I have a house with a garage, I can paint stuff!

I started off by flipping the table over and painting the underside. As you can see. I laid down newspaper and taped it in place so that I wouldn't ruin the top of the table. Doing the painting first affords you the chance to sand off any stray paint that might accidentally get on the tabletop where you're going to sand.

I lightly cleaned off the surfaces and sanded lightly sanded it all over so that the paint would hold well. I did about 3 light coats of paint an hour apart. 

I realized after I finished painting the base, that I had forgotten to pull out the leaves and paint those as well. I taped and covered the table top and spray painted the section just below the tabletop (the frame? skirt? I'm not sure what the area is called).

If you're worried about the floor, put a tarp down so you don't get that nice over spray ring on the ground.

After I had finished painting the bottom white, I sanded all the top pieces. I started with a 80 grit sand paper on a palm or pad sander to remove all the old varnish. After most of the old finish was gone, I moved to a 120 grit sand paper on my sander. I smoothed it out with a 200 grit paper. (If you're not familiar with sand paper, the lower numbers mean rougher paper and the higher numbers mean more smooth paper. You usually work from low to high to remove old finishes and then even and smooth the surface as you go)

After the old finish was removed, the surface was smooth, and the table cleaned with a rag towel, I stained it with a dark walnut colored stain. Maybe because the color I chose was so dark, the stain was really thick, almost like paint. I applied it with a 3" paint brush. When I tried to add a second coat, the first coat started coming off. I've never had this happen with stain before (it's supposed to stain, right?), so I fixed the area I had tried to re-coat and left it alone.

When the stain was thoroughly dry (I believe I waited a full day), I started applying the varnish. I did 2 coat in one day, 2 hours apart and 2 coats the next day, also 2 hours apart.

One of my future projects, reupholstering and converting a chair into a rocker, is in the background there.

At that point, I started working on the chairs. I cleaned them all, which was no small task since they were 20 years old. I use hot water and in some case kitchen cleaner to remove dirt and stains as best as I could.Once they were dry, I used a medium (120) grit sand paper to rough up the surfaces of the chairs. I used the palm sander on all the flat surfaces I could, especially the seat, where I knew there would be a lot of use. I didn't strip the old varnish, because I didn't want to prime the chairs, just made a good surface for the paint to adhere to.

This is the paint I used on the chairs. It worked really well and I love the color.

I lightly spray each chair twice while the chair was upright and then coated it again the next day while the chair was upside down to get all the spots I missed. After doing any necessary touch-ups, I coated all the chairs with two gloss clear coats to protect the paint and keep the color from transferring to other surfaces. I think the clear coat was pretty import because it's such a bold color that if it rubs against the white table it would definitely leave a mark. 

After a solid week of drying in the garage, I brought the table and chairs into my kitchen/dining room. I have to say, I love them now! I'm so glad I refinished them instead of buying something new. They've also held up really well. The table surface looks great and it matches my kitchen perfectly!