Finally! Finally! Finally is all I can say! I’m so happy that this table is finished. It has truly felt like the project that would never end (cue: “…this is the song project that never ends…” from Lamb Chop). lol This has been such a long project for me. It’s been a lot of new learning experiences (such as staining) and so many problems to solve. You can read the whole story about this table in my previous post about finding inspiration for my dining room table. To make a long story short though, I have had this project going on – on and off – for just about a year now. We haven’t really had a dining room table for that long as well. It’s been crazy…

Enough of the back story though, here is the finished product (please excuse the mess behind it)! Dun, dun dun…

Supplies Checklist:

• A Dining Table (that you want to refinish)
• Stripper
• Gloves
• Scraper
• Old toothbrush
• Sandpaper (150-grit or so)
• Sponge/Paper Towels
• (Optional – If removing extension hardware) – Pipe Clamps
• (Optional – If removing extension hardware) – Wood Glue
• (Optional – If removing extension hardware) – Foam Brush
• Wood Filler
• (Optional) – Orbital Sander (or sanding paper/sponges)
• Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner (oil-based)
• Rags to apply the pre-stain and stain
• Minwax Oil Based Stain (I used Provincial & Dark Walnut – explained below)
• Minwax Oil Based Polyurethane (I used Clear Satin)

Step-By-Step Tutorial:

• Take the table apart. This is really only necessary if you are staining the top and painting the legs. Otherwise, you can probably keep it all together.
• For my project, I’m flipping the table over and using the bottom as the top now. This is because of how badly I messed up the original top with wood filler (the whole story is here). This is my “trick” that I was able to save this table because of. You’ll see I have a “bit” of a gap to fill in though (I’ll explain what I did later)
• Gather your furniture stripping supplies above.
• Follow the instructions on your stripper can. But spray the stripper liberally all over, getting into the grooves of the table (here I had already stripped the table a little).
• Scrape the paint off after the time the can says to leave it on for.
• For the grooves, I used paper towels to get into the grooves.
• I also found that an old toothbrush worked well. I would mainly use the toothbrush, wipe it off on a paper towel, and then go at it with the toothbrush again.
• Once you’re getting most of it off, then start using sandpaper or a sanding sponge in between spraying and scraping. Sand…
• Then wipe the dust off with a paper towel…
• Then spray and scrape again…
• Keep doing this until you have everything cleaned off of it. Since you’re staining, it ALL has to be off. It has to be super clean. This, to me, was the most tedious task of this whole project. It took me a good week of doing this process over and over again to every single side of the top of the table.
• I did the same for the bottom of the table (which used to be the top for me). I didn’t get down to the wood in the center; because of how messed up it is with wood filler. I’m just going to paint the bottom center white and then stain the bottom edges the same as the top.
• Then I sanded the legs down really good. Since I’m just re-painting these white (I already painted them white before), I’m not stripping any paint or anything.
• Now wipe down everything and make sure you get all the dust off of everything.
• To put the top back together, I’m using three sawhorses like so. I have two sides because I removed the hardware for the table extension (because I didn’t get it anyways when we bought it).
• I place two pipe clamps the length of the table (not tightened at this point).
• Then I put wood glue on the insides of the table. I drenched it on there to make sure it’ll stick really well.
• Now I tightened the pipe clamps really well.
• Then I added another line of wood glue and used a foam brush to smooth it out.
• Once that’s all together, scrape off any excess wood glue and wipe down the entire top of the table again.
• Just a side note. Since I had the little extensions on the bottom edges, I marked where each one went to make sure I remembered how to put it back together.
• Now, you probably won’t need to do this. But since I was flipping the top of the table over to use the bottom of the table as the top, I bought a thin piece of cheap plywood and another piece of nicer, I believe Oak finished, plywood to fill it in. Because the oak piece wasn’t thick enough, I had to get the thinner piece also to fill in the excess. So I generously spread the wood glue all over the bottom (now top) of the table.
• Next I clamped the thinner piece of plywood to that to allow the glue to dry. I also put screws in this to add strength to the newly solid (no longer two pieces) table. I left this for a good day or so to make sure it was really dry.
• I did the same thing with the thicker piece of finished plywood so I have this now. Lookin’ good so far…
• Apply wood glue where necessary. I had to fill in all around where I put the new pieces of plywood in so LOTS of wood glue.
• Using the scraper, push the glue into the gap to make sure it’s all in there.
• Refill with more if necessary. Make sure the glue is pretty even with the top, but with enough to be able to sand a bit.
• Also, don’t forget around the edges. Since I clamped my table together, I had to get in these little gaps too.
• Sand the glue down smooth. An orbital sander makes easy work of this so I’d strongly suggest one. But you can use a sanding sponge or sandpaper too.
• Sand down the rest of the piece as well and wipe down completely to prep for painting.
• For the bottom center of the table (which I’m painting white) I taped off the edges to make a really straight line.
• Then I primed twice…
• And I painted it with two coats as well so it’s nice and thick to prevent chipping.
• Remove the tape carefully and you have a nice straight line. This saves on stain as well, big time! See all the “bumpiness” on this side? That’s why I’m flipping it over.
• Flip the table over to the top. I did the staining to the top first, then the bottom edges. This way if there is a little line between staining, at least it will be on the bottom, not the top of the table. So I first applied the pre-stain wood conditioner. I believe I did two coats of this. Be sure to follow the directions on the can.
• For the stain I started off with Provincial by Minwax. However, it wasn’t dark enough for me to hide the imperfections and all. But to be consistent, I did the same for the top and bottom edges anyways. I first did two coats of Provincial oil based stain.
• Then I added a coat of Dark Walnut by Minwax and it was perfect.
• For the bottom, to preserve the straight line I made, I used a really wide putty knife down the line as I stained.
• I also did two coats of Provincial and one coat of Dark Walnut on the bottom edges.
• Next I primed the legs and end pieces. I did two coats of primer. Maybe excessive since they were already white, but I needed a nice thick coat for durability.
• Then I spray painted the legs and end pieces with Rustoleum’s Heirloom White.
• Once everything was dry, my husband (thanks honey!) re-attached the legs and end pieces. Since we flipped the table, we had to make a few adjustments, but it all ended up fitting quite nicely.
• Finally I applied two coats of Polyurethane (sanding lightly in between) and she’s done!
• Look at that finish. I’m not only happy that it’s done, but I’m so thrilled with how it turned out. I would let it “cure” for a good several days or more before setting anything on it, just to be on the safe side.