Claw foot Dining Table Makeover
See how I transformed a once painted black dining room table into a beautiful weathered piece.
***Affiliate links have been provided for your convenience. For my full disclosure policy, please see my disclosure page.***
So, this dining room table was definitely not easy to refinish! However, with a bit of patience and grit I got her done. First, I want to tell you a little backstory that, I think, is sort of coincidental and funny. The owner of table almost bought a table from me when we lived in our previous house on Southgate. She passed on it, but just because the table was about the same size as her table (which is the black one that is featured in this post). She was looking for a larger table... Anyway, long story short. I went into Paris the Jeweler in Grand Blanc (where we live) to have a ring resize, they do beautiful work If you’re in the area and are needing Jewellery services. Anywho... I got to speaking with the owners (while wearing a mask, because of COVID) and through chit-chat we discovered that she was the mom of the lady that came to buy a table from me at our old house (she also came with her daughter). What a weird coincident! And I also love that they remembered me!
Back to the table. Her parents gave her the table. her mom had painted in black at some point, and she was ready for a change. through a bunch of text messages with pinterest screenshots we got to the point where we knew that she was looking for a lighter weathered look. With a lot of different layers we achieved the look.
List of Materials Used:
- Seekone Heat Gun (Seriously, if you don't own one... get one, life saver)
- Citristrip no harsh fumes, okay for indoor use, varnish and paint stripper
As you can see... it took a bit to strip all of the paint off from the table, also.... don’t judge my Covid hair 😂. I used my SEEKONE heat gun and my paint scraper to scrap the paint from the flat surfaces, it worked wonders! It came off like butter with the heat. The worst part was the little engravings that were on the side of the table. I used Citristrip, which is a paint and varnish stripper that does not contain harsh fumes, it's super ideal for indoor use and it works great. If you were to use the stripper within an hour the results are quick... if you wanted to let the stripper sit overnight, you'd need to put a layer of plastic on top of it so that it doesn't dry out. in those tough areas I used my wire brush paint removers I always buy these in bulk because I use them a lot from stripping furniture to stripping hardware.
After I successfully removed all of the dreaded black paint, I used my Skil Mouse Sander to sand the whole piece with 100 grit sandpaper, followed up with 220 grit sandpaper for that smooth as butter finish.
Here are a few photos of the aftermath. See that giant scorch mark!! I knew that was going to be an issue a little later down the road.
We tried just stain first... It did not give us the desired look that we were trying to achieve. Here are a few photos of just a few coats of Minwax Weathered Oak.
Looks good... just still not what she was looking for, and THAT DARN SCORCH MARK!. So I decided that we probably needed to do a bunch of layering.
The next coat of stain was a coat of Minwax dark walnut stain.
Here it is with a coat of Dark walnut stain.
Looks good! I love dark walnut! ... but, not what she's looking for.
The next step was fun. I whitewashed the whole thing. I mixed one part water with one part whatever white paint I had on hand. The cool thing about whitewashing is that you're totally in control. You can make the consistency as thick (as dark) or as thin (as light) as you want. You can also apply as many layers as you want... and put it on thicker in areas as opposed to other areas to create depth on your piece. I used a large brush to apply long strokes of my mixture to the piece, working in small areas as I went. The key is to not let the paint dry, because after you apply the long strokes you're going to want to follow up with a lint free cloth (I use old t-shirts) and really rub that paint mixture into the wood to get it into the grain.
After I let the paint dry for a few hours (or over night), I took 100 Grit sandpaper and just sanded until I liked the look. we were trying to go for the 'weathered look' so I ended up taking most of the white paint that was on top off.
After I was happy with the amount of paint that I took off.. I did something pretty unorthodox! Oh my!, what did I do! I stained on top of paint... WWWHHHHAAATT?!
... yes... I did, and I do it quite often. The great thing about refinishing furniture is that there are not 'set' rules. I do what I want!
I put a coat of Minwax weathered oak stain on top of the painted piece. Why did I do it.. well, I didn't want to wax it because it is a table top and it's going to need a more durable top coat. I didn't want to do a dark wax because I didn't want it to be too dark. I just wanted a light shade of grey... and to achieve that I just used the stain.
*** Since we're still renovating our house, which currently doesn't have a kitchen, I had to dig out some things to set the table, hah.
*** SOoooo much texture! I LOVE it
*** Those feet are to die for too!
After I finished I sealed the entire piece with Three coats Rustoleum Matte Top Coat. I LOVE this top coat. It goes on smooth, doesn't yellow, and isn't crazy expensive.
I'm big on different paint techniques and textures. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Happy Painting friends,
Stay safe.
Here's the Update on or #1940sbungalow , so feel free to skip this section if you're not interested in seeing our progress on our full house renovation.
Last time you saw us painting some rooms, and putting in a few new windows. A LOT has changed since then, which is why you haven't heard from me in a while.... we've been busy!
We built new, sturdy, basement stairs... framed in the basement... and painted the drywalled walls.. we even had out little helper with us! #KillianNickola
We installed the cutest little fan in Killian's room... and we built floating shelves in each of the closets.
Now we are in the speaks of ordering kitchen cabinets!! and half of a bathroom is, almost, complete... we built a bathroom from scratch, so we're still 'building' the shower part of it. It'll be beautiful once we're done.
Guys.... I CAN'T WAIT to show you finished rooms as they get finished.