I don’t do well being “stuck” where I’m waiting & waiting & not moving forward but unfortunately, that’s the name of the game in real estate.  I look at Pinterest & houses on the market & dream of picking out new dining room colors with my own home lacking curtains or personal touch.  So I decided to tackle a much-needed home project – our solid oak kitchen table.

Backstory on this table:  Doug & I purchased it (plus coffee table & side table) second-hand when we were first married.  All three pieces cost $300, plus the table came with six oak chairs.  I don’t know how long they were used before we bought them, but now they have several moves & six years of hard wear on them at the very least.  I sold the chairs last fall & purchased parsons chairs that now clashed.  Our coffee table finally laid down & died a few weeks ago, prompting me to refinish the side table.  Which made the kitchen table look even more dingy, so I took advantage of the beautiful weekend weather.

RAWR, baby.

I decided to tackle the base first – since I was painting it, just a basic rough-up of the surface was good enough.  I took a medium-grit sanding block to all surfaces, then sprayed with Kilz primer in a spray can.  This stuff is magic for weird claw-feet on kitchen tables.  Then I used Behr’s Lime Light paint – it took three coats, which came to an even sample-sized can (which is roughly $3.00).

Getting into the “claws” meant flipping it upside down & using a q-tip.  Seriously.  Then I did two coats of poly – first coat, then lightly sand with a extra-fine grit sanding block, wipe down, second coat.

First step to conquering the top was sanding the bad boy.  Years of playdough & not using placemats really took it’s toll, so I used a medium-grit on my power sander to strip the table back down to raw wood.  This is a messy, tedious task.  I suggest a facemask, eye wear, & a beer.

After stripping it down, I took a foam brush & did the first thin coat of stain.  I let it sit for 20 minutes since I wanted a dark top (the longer it sits, the more soaks in) & then wiped off the excess.  Four hours later, I went back for the second coat & did the exact same thing.

At this point, I took it to Twitter & Instagram, who both agreed that staining was complete since any protective coat would make it a wee bit darker.  I put on three protective coats, following the instructions to lightly sand with an extra-fine block & wipe between each coat.

 In hindsight, I might have gone one coat darker but the outcome is still very pretty.

I have a brand-new kitchen table for roughly $20.00 & a weekend’s worth of time. 

(here’s how we have fabric parsons chairs with a toddler – I made them waterproof with a washable cover.)