This vintage pine table revamp has been one of my absolute favorite projects lately. First because this table was from my childhood days and was gifted to myself and family from my lovely parents. It has been in storage for over 40 years and has now become a new, well used fixture again. Second, it was made in Hamilton, On, my hometown by a long gone pine furniture manufacturer somewhere close to Hess Village if I remember right. Once I get the name I will post it here.
Anyway it was a honey, orange colored finish that I needed to change to match my decor and to remove all of the previous dents and marks. It needed a good sanding to remove the finish on the table top and on the center beam that holds it together as I planed to stain it too. Stain was my first choice as I definitively wanted to show the grain. It was beautiful under the finish with all of it's knots and noticeable grain. I didn't feel the need to stain the legs as I like a little bit of contrast with solid chalk mineral paint to show off the top as well as reduce the amount of labor.
I forgot to take a full before picture but you can see the original color still on the legs of the table below. It was much more orange looking in person than in the picture.
So this is the beautiful table top after sanding...Nice surprise.
It was super solid and had nice tight seems and lovely knots and grain so I new that I wanted to see the wood grain through the finish. It was way too nice to paint over for me.
I wanted to start very light so I mixed half and half of Weathered Gray and Expresso No Pain Gel Stain as seen below. It wasn't quite what I wanted so I added one more partial streaky coat of dark Expresso No Pain Gel Stain and got the look I was going for. I like to start with the lightest color first because I can always go darker. If I started dark I can't lighten and would have to re-sand which I don't ever want to do if I don't have too.
After darkening it up with the Expresso No Pain Gel Stain I moved onto the legs.
I used two simple coats of Dixie Belle Caviar paint on the legs and left to dry. I waited 3 days before sealing table top to allow for the gel stain to dry properly as it is oil based. Then after the 3 day waiting time I used Gator Hide with a sponge for the table top sealer. It was a fun project and we enjoy using it often! Now I just need new chairs that match.
Hope you enjoyed!
Andrea