Refinished Farm Table

^ Bad lighting!

 The bottom part of the table is more of a creamy color and the wood isn't quite that dark! 

We were in need of a small table for our dining nook and I wanted something with character.  I found a table I really like but it was $700 and it looked like something I could have easily made myself.  I've been pretty brave lately with furniture DIY so I kept an eye on Craig's List.  I saw this table listed in my city for $100.  The hubs and I went to look at it.  It was the perfect size and came with 4 leaves to expand the length. This was nice because if we have a lot of people at the house we can pull the table out for more space. And it was solid wood, which was a requirement. So we loaded her up and took her home!

  It was a little worn, which I actually kinda liked. According to the lady we bought it from it was over 100 years old. At first I thought maybe she was just trying to sell the table, but when we got it home and looked underneath we could tell by the hardware that it is AN OLD TABLE! It needed some reinforcing as well.  It sunk in the middle but nothing that would be difficult to fix.

I needed to strip the top clear coat off of the wood before I could do anything else.  I decided to use this product and it was GREAT! I highly recommend it.  I bought it at Lowes. I recommend doing this project outside, by the way!

 I simply poured it on and smoothed it over the wood in a thin layer.

Leave it on for the directed amount of time and then use one of these flat edged tools to gently scrape it off. 

 

Here's the leaves after the first scraping.  I was a little nervous about doing another layer, although it probably wouldn't of hurt anything.  I had to sand anyway so I decided to see if sanding would get off the last little bit of varnish.

And it worked!

I wiped them off with a damp towel, allowed them to dry and painted them with a wood conditioner.

 

After they dried I was ready for the stain!  

I went with English Chestnut.

***PAINT WITH THE GRAIN OF THE WOOD!***

This is very important!

Obviously by this point it was starting to get late.  I put on a coat and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  I then went in with a lint free cloth and wiped off the excess stain.  After it dried completely, I sanded it with the electric sander, wiped it down with a damp towel, let it dry and did another round.  I ended up staining 5 rounds to get the color I wanted.  It's important to sand each time, even after your last coat of stain.

Then I was ready for the last step, a clear wood finisher.  I put on one coat, let it dry, and sanded ONE LAST TIME! I wiped it down with a damp towel, let it dry and applied the 2nd and last coat of the clear wood finisher.  I DIDN'T SAND AFTER THIS ROUND because I was done! And so happy with the way it turned out!

 I love this deep color and it has survived quite a bit of wear and tear since I stained it!

 

Like I said, this picture doesn't really do the table justice.  The white legs aren't nearly that bright of a white but more of a cream.  Also I haven't done the chairs yet! That's a project for another day! I have big plans for them that I can't wait to share with you!