So... when Ben and I got married we lived in this tiny attic apartment. This apartment didn't have tons of space so we decided to get a card table/folding chairs set to put in our kitchen and then if we wanted more space we could just break it down. It worked really well upstairs and it actually isn't too bad of a kitchen table. However, last Tuesday, Ben and I went to the University Surplus Store with some friends to look at a bike rack to put at our house since we have about 7-10 bikes just chilling outside. Unfortunately, the bike rack was gone but we saw an ad they had about dining room tables for 20 bucks. So we asked about it. We figured, "Hey, new table for 20 bucks no big deal." So we bought one. And I immediately decided that I wanted to refinish it. So for my days off, that's exactly what we did. Our neighbors Garrett and Vauna also decided to redo their table as well with us. It was a lot of fun to do together. Here's what our table started as.
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| Simple white legs with light stain on top. |
So we began to sand it all down. I wanted to make our table look rustic so I insisted that we sand everything down for what I had in mind, which meant all the white paint had to come off. It drove Ben crazy ha ha but we managed to get it. (I think I should get some brownie points or something for not just leaving Ben to do it but actually getting down and dirty myself on our "To Do" list.)
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| Here's Ben working on sanding. |
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| All ready to go on to the painting and staining. |
After we had it all down we painted the legs a nice black color. We then let that dry and what did I want to do? Make it look all rustic by sanding it down some more in places to give it a worn look and add stain on top of those places. So we sanded some more ha ha.
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| Here are the legs all nice and black. |
After we finished the legs, we went on to staining. We got this nice dark mahogany reddish brownish color for the top and the scuffs on the legs. We used brushes instead of rags to put on the stain and it went on really thick and dark. It was totally covered.
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| Here's the red stain on top. |
After a few hours of letting it dry, we came out to look at it and maybe do some finishing touches. We tried sanding it down, but the stain was just too thick and goopy. So Ben decided to take a putty knife to it to get rid of all the excess stain that was more in the way. As we got going, we weren't sure if that had been a good idea, but we kept with it to get the whole table taken care of. We were planning that whole time to redo the stain and try to make it more even and smooth but the result of the putty knife kind of surprised us. What we ended up with was a beautiful antique, farmhouse style looking table. It looked like the stain had been well worn from good use. So after some debating (Ben wasn't sure if he liked it at first), some extra sanding to even it out, Ben and I decided it was fantastic. Here's what we ended up with.
I love it. I am now planning how to decorate my kitchen to make it look like an old farmhouse kitchen. I am really excited. I am also glad that we now have a good table that should be able to last us for quite some time. And we got it all done for a really cheap price plus a little work of our own that really only meant we were making some good memories and having a good time. I'm really excited that slowly, but surely, our house is turning more and more into a home. We are getting things we want and like and having some fun along the way. I'm glad we spent the time to do it even if we had some sore muscles after. Anyway, that's our new table and some more of what we've been up to. I still plan and posting about my birthday adventures and a few other things, but I've been busy at work. So have a good day!
