Nesting Table Redo
These nesting tables were so nice everyone was excited to work on them... even the dog! Made of a beautiful hard wood we wanted to show off the wood table tops so we chose to sand and stain the tops of both of the tables. The legs needed some cleaning and distressing so we cleaned them up and added some aging details with brown wax to the legs in all the nooks and crannies.
It's hard to see in the photo, but the tops were quite scratched up. The tables nest together so tightly a stain was a better choice as a painted top surface would be more likely to scratch and wear in the future. Nesting tables are handy to have and make a nice project to work on. They are also easy to change up if you want to in the future. Adding a decal or a custom painted top would also be nice.
First we quickly sanded the tops of both tables with a power sander. Then hand sanded the grooves and edges of the trim. I chose to use No Pain Gel Stain in "Weathered Grey" for the table top so the nice grain would show through. I gave it two quick coats with a sponge. I usually use a cotton rag but couldn't find one handy today so a sponge worked just fine. I use disposable rubber gloves and work in a ventilated area. It only took about five minutes to do both coats and it looks great. I considered using chalk mineral paint for the legs but liked the contrast so stuck with using Best Dang Wax in Brown in all the grooves of the table legs to bring out the details.
After it was done I had to let it dry for 3 days before applying my top coat of Gator Hide to both the top and the legs. The reason we recommend to wait 3 days before applying the Gator Hide is because the no pain gel stain is oil based and the gator hide is water based. You have to be sure the stain is dry as oil and water don't work well together. Never had any problems if we wait the 3 days so it's better to be safe than sorry. Super happy with the results...
Hope you enjoyed!
Andrea