Vintage Dining Table Refinishing Tutorial

I probably shouldn’t have titled this a tutorial, maybe it’s more of a “this is how I do it” walk through… Either way I’ve had this table for about a year and a half (totally ridiculous)… I think I was a little intimidated by the amount of work involved… but better late than never right?

I took a fair amount of pictures throughout the process of refinishing this dining table so I thought I could share the steps with you, just in case someone is interested… so here it goes!

Step one…

Start out with a great vintage table (that’s the easiest part)…

BEFORE

Step two: Repair structural issues

We removed the top in order to fix the bad repairs that the last owners did…

We removed the top layer of added wood (which was visible on the outer edge of the table) and then the original wood side supports. The original side supports had to be replaced due to damage that was effecting the stability. My SAH cut and routered the inside edges of the new pine boards in order for the wood cross braces to join in as they were originally made to do… I was VERY impressed, they were a perfect fit!

(Underneath BEFORE)

I removed a leg that was repaired badly at some point before I bought the table. I sanded & cleaned the connection points of the leg and used Gorilla Glue and a frame clamp to attach the leg back to the base. The frame clamp was long enough to wrap around the entire base and I let the piece set overnight…

Step Four: Refinish Top

I stripped the top with CitriStrip and cleaned the residue off with 000 steel wool and Low Odor Mineral spirits. I let the top dry for a day or so and then sanded it with an orbital sander using first 150 grit sandpaper then finishing with 220 grit. The top is NEVER going to be perfect, but I did the best I could with what was there…

Step Five: Paint base

After cleaning the base with Formula 409 we painted it in two coats CeCe Caldwell’s Smoky Mountain Grey… a beautiful blue grey color!

Step Five: Stain Top

I applied the Kona stain with a soft cloth, applying with the grain, and let the stain soak in for about 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes I wiped the table down several times with paper towels removing all of the excess stain. Then I waited… a couple of days to ensure it was completely dry… the garage is cold, if it was a warm day I would have only waited 24 hours. If you add wax or a top coat before the top is completely dry the top product can pull up some of the stain and leave the piece blotchy… word to the wise!

This is one of my favorite products… Watco Danish Oil, I especially like to use it on old dried out wood as it rejuvenates the wood and gives a beautiful finish. I have used it both as a finish coat and as a base coat for wax…

Step Six: Apply Top coat

The oil is just applied with a paper towel in the direction of the grain. See how the shine is amazing compared with the un-oiled left side?

Here it is completely coated… and I wait again… patience is a virtue right? I wiped it off after 15 minutes.

Step Seven:

Apply coat of dark wax, applying with the grain, buff with 0000 steel wool and shine with a soft cloth.

Here it is all finished (thank goodness!)

I distressed all of the paint and applied CeCe Caldwell’s clear wax to the painted parts. We then buffed the table with 0000 steel wool and a soft cloth.

This is what the chairs looked like originally…

I painted them the same Smoky Mountain Grey, distressed, waxed and buffed them all. I removed the old fabric from the cushions, added some new batting and recovered them is this pretty grey and white trellis patterned fabric.

Oh how I LOVE the look of all of these legs / columns… but I REALLY disliked painting them all!

I have this set staged in my basement kitchenette area because honestly I was just too lazy to move it all outside and back in again

So I am hoping that this is the last table and chair set I do for a little while, although I know I have another one to do for a client but she doesn’t need it done until November.. WHEW!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time…

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