The Table that Keeps on Giving

WE HAVE INTERNET!

I know my excitement level might be a little ridiculous, but WE HAVE INTERNET... I am laying in MY BED with my computer!  I know the Starbucks around the corner is already missing me dearly.  :)  I have been working on revamping our kitchen table for the last couple weeks.  I have had this table since my junior year of college...

How cute {and young} are we???  These beautiful ladies are still my BESTEST friends!  We didn't even get how good we had it... As you can see the table started out with a light stain.  It stayed that way for a couple years until I enter my paint everything black phase.  Now I am in my "stain everything" phase.  Tall Tan Man never loved my black table, and moving it from Dallas to Denver didn't help. 

Here is how I made the transformation:

1.  I knew I didn't want to buy a table or repaint it so I went to Lowe's and got a stripper.  A paint stripper.  Day one of the transformation involved lots of paint stripper application, waiting, and messy scrapping.  

2.  A lot of the primer did not come off on day one so I went back to Lowe's to get some 50 grit sandpaper.  I have the skil octo sander and totally love it.  I sanded the table for about 4 days straight {I am a teacher on summer break what else am I going to do??}.  After I finished getting most of the paint off I went over the top of the table with 220 grit sandpaper.  This helps make the top super smooth. 

 3.  I stained the table with Minawax Dark Walnut.  I already had the stain in the garage from our new {dresser}.

4.  We did one coat of polyurethane on the entire table first.  One thing I have learned about putting polyurethane over a stained piece of furniture is that you have to sand it after the first coat of poly.  Now, don't be scared.  The sanding {220 grit} will first look like the stain color is being distorted, but it isn't.  Wipe your piece of furniture down with a damp rag, and it will look normal again.  After that we put one more coat of poly on the top to make it more durable. 

We are currently using our outdoor chairs from Ikea, because chairs are expensive...and we can't agree.  :) 

{LJ}

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