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Another Desk Revived!
Tag: furniture store
Dressing up a Plain Jane Dresser
This dresser is a great example of how Fusion stains can be used to rejuvenate a finish without stripping. This is the Prep stage of this dresser; it was washed and lightly scuff-sanded. The top, however, had some pretty deep scratches.
For initial blending in of the coloration, we used one coat of Golden Pine Stain & Finishing Oil to soften some of the deeper discoloring.
Next: Double Espresso Gel Stain & Top Coat to the Rescue – first coat is still wet in the photo below.
This is basically a pigmented polyurethane, so it can go directly over an existing finish without sanding or stripping. The pigmentation provides some opacity to obscure flaws and scratches like the ones we started with. The more coats of this product applied, the more opaque the finish becomes. I like to try and find the balance that allows for correction of the old finish while still showing through some of the original wood grain.
I prefer to apply this product with a wide foam brush, but it can be applied with a roller or bristle brush. It’s very important to practice with it and find your preference!
Looking better after the the second coat! Long, even strokes are key to an even finish.
Did you notice that along the way the body of the dresser got a nice coat of Sacred Sage?
And here it is after the second coat is dry. Gel Stain & Topcoat has a matte finish once dried – this also helps to de-emphasize flaws in the surface so it’s a more forgiving finish.
If you look close, you can still see a few of the deeper scratches under the finish, but it is such an improvement over the original condition – and all without sanding.
Additionally, since this is an all-in-one stain and topcoat, it does not require an additional step to seal.
So, we spruced up the top, updated the color ….. And now, to do something about those blah knobs! Woah! These new knobs are anything but blah!
Kristin’s Kreations handpainted these one-of-a-kind knobs to jazz up our dresser with some personality! There is So much detail in each one!!
These beautiful knobs are just what this plain dresser needed! Thanks Kristin!!
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Liming Finish on Rough Antique Pine Dresser
I’d been itching to use Fusion’s White Stain & Finishing Oil as a Liming finish, and when I came across this previously stripped antique yellow pine dresser, I knew I had found the perfect piece! The previous owners had it professionally “dipped” to strip off the existing paint with every intention of refinishing it. That’s a familiar prelude for many of us! After years of sitting and moving from residence to residence, they finally needed it out of the way. By then, it was quite musty, battered, and generally “rough”. A liming finish would seal and protect it, but also highlight it’s character rather than try to mask it.
The overall construction was fantastic, but definitely “rustic”.
Fusion’s Stain and Finishing Oil (SFO) is a penetrating oil stain that soaks into the grain, in addition to an oil-based topcoat to seal and protect. Stain and Sealing in One step!
To use SFO on raw wood, I simply brushed it on, let it penetrate the wood for a few minutes, and then wiped back the excess. Below you can see the process and half of the drawer wiped back with one coat. I decided this was still too yellow, so I simply waited a day for it to dry, and then applied a second coat – brush on/wipe off.
Below, you can see the difference one coat makes on the drawer front and the dresser top.
Now for that musty smell…every single interior surface got a generous shellacking! Shellac is the only surefire way to seal smells away from your belongings. The important part about sealing musty dressers is to brush or spray shellac on the underside, interior, exterior of each drawer (every side but the front) in order to completely trap odors away. The interior body of the dresser should also be sprayed or brushed because it can also trap smells.
Here is the finished piece after it’s second coat. It was That Simple! One step Stain & Finishing Oil and a bit of shellac! It was a great way to update and bring out some of the details while preserving the character of this piece.
This piece found its new home quite a while ago, but we have more unique refinished pieces available on our Facebook page Furniture Albums and our Online Store
Fusion’s Stain & Finishing Oil comes in a variety of stains to highlight and show off your wood grain. SFO Colors
Raspberry Buffet
I often hear folks who paint furniture to sell lament painting things white. “customers want everything painted white,” they say, “white furniture is what sells”, “we’re so sick and tired of painting things white!”. The redundancy is squelching creativity for some folks.
Oh, if only there was a pop of color…..
So, can you imagine how Excited I was at the request to combine FUSION’s Cranberry and CUREiously Pink to create a custom RASPBERRY color for a shapely but dull buffet?
WOWZA!!!
The approximate mix was about 3 parts Cranberry to 1 part CUREiously Pink. The pink was actually surprisingly robust!
Prep = Cleaning and Repairs
I’ve had this piece sitting in the shop for several months and never noticed this awful repair attempt until I took it apart to wash it. Someone attempted to glue this piece of trim back on. However, it looks like they tried doing it without clamping it as it was glued BELOW it’s target. Luckily, they also used inappropriate glue for the job, so it was easy to dislodge with a razor blade, clean, and attach properly.
I have talked in previous posts about washing thoroughly with TSP Alternative before painting. 
FUSION’s TSP alternative degreases without requiring rinsing and is biodegradable. Many other cleaners are toxic (to you and the environment) and need to be rinsed, so this is the product I recommend. In addition to degreasing, older pieces may also need dewaxing with mineral spirits. A thick, scratchable layer of paste furniture wax isn’t the only sign that there is still waxy residue; years and layers of Pledge-type “furniture polish” products tend to build up over time and leave a thin, silicone-like layer on furniture that acts as a resist to paint. Think about how often your grandmother or great-grandmother polished her furniture.
This piece was washed until the wash water ran clean. And then, I put some paint on part of it just to see how resistant the remaining surface was. As I suspected, there was waxy residue on it. This “fisheye” look as the paint pulls back from the surface is an indication that your surface needs to be cleaned with mineral spirits.
Enter Mineral Spirits!
One look at my rag and you can see the additional grime that was trapped within layers of waxy residue. Odorless mineral spirits dissolves the wax and releases the rest of the grunge. NOW we’re ready to paint!!
Color!
I decided to paint a quick base coat of Cranberry as a transition color since I had only mixed up a single pint of the custom raspberry color to match the customer’s color swatch and didn’t want to run out if the coverage wasn’t solid. Turns out, the coverage was pretty great!
After drying for a couple of days, it was time for the black glaze. I love using FUSION’s Clear Glaze since it can be mixed with any color paint to get the exact glaze shade you want. I just mixed a little bit of Coal Black in and was ready to apply!
Glazing with black tinted glaze deepens the paint color just a little and leaves nice definition in the crevice details. Here are two drawers, one with and one without glaze for comparison. You simply apply, and then wipe back the glaze until you have the desired effect. It stays wet for a long time so you can work with it more easily.
This is how the whole piece looks, freshly glazed. We also cleaned and oiled the hardware with hemp oil to maintain and enhance the original aged patina.
A little more tweaking, a few internal repairs (door latches) and…..
Warm vs. cool lighting makes quite a difference for this color.
Either way, it POPS!!!
All of the products to complete a project like this are available at our Online Shop
If you are looking for CUREiously Pink, it’s coming back for a limited release!!! Our order will be in next week so feel free to order through our online store and it will be sent as soon as it come in!
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Family Heirloom Updated for Generations to Come
Once in a while, a piece of furniture comes into our workshop that is truly an honor to work on. This particularly large hutch was definitely one of those as it defines the importance of family and preserving memories.
This gigantic hutch was handmade by our customer’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father. It is a piece of this family’s history as it has a consistent presence in childhood memories and even in the background of countless family photographs through generations. We found it stored neatly in a locker where it was waiting for both a new family home it could fit into (did I mention it’s HUGE), and a little bit of updating to fit into a modern home.
This was such a fun, quirky piece to work on with lots of decisions along the way to make sure it’s character was preserved while the finish was updated to fit into it’s new home. For instance, we found a ruler built into the top of the upper doors (it must have been just the right size to fill a gap). Of course, we made sure to preserve this bit of historical character and not paint over it.
BEFORE
AFTER
with mirror
after mirror removal
Adding shiplap
Then, doors were removed, crown molding was installed, and a few areas tightened up. Unfortunately, the hinges had been shellacked over at some point in the past, so they were incredibly difficult to remove intact. We went hinge shopping! A bit of Midnight Blue paint started to pull the top together nicely.
Adding crown molding
Next, we see the process for prepping and finishing this piece.
1) After washing thoroughly with TSP Alternative,
2) the shiny shellacked surface was lightly scuff-sanded to provide some tooth for the paint to adhere and then cleaned again to remove sanding dust. After that,
3) two coats of Midnight Blue were applied using microfiber roller and Staalmeester brush. After 3 weeks cure time for the paint to evaporate all water residue,
4) two coats of polyurethane (FUSION Patina Gel Stain and Top Coat) were applied.
This is an example from the cabinet doors; the whole process was applied to the entire piece.
Original yellowing poly finish
Light scuff to knock down the shine
Painted with FUSION Midnight Blue
Coated with clear FUSION poly for added protection
One side had originally been built-in to adjoining cabinetry or a wall, so it wasn’t finished on the end. This is a good view of the plywood sheets the piece was largely constructed from. Patching, painting, and building out the trim to match as well as possible came next.
Upon arival – this side used to be built into a bank of cabinets so it was unfinished
Painted with basecoat
Trim added to match the finished side opposite
Complete!
A piece this large shifts and adjusts under it’s own weight each time it is moved. While this may have been level at one time, by this time, the plywood bottom wasn’t even or finished off in a way that I would want dragging across my wood floors. We added adjustable metal feet to help level it and protect the floors in its new home.
Just a few odds and ends like adding magnetic latches to the bouncy lower doors and this piece was ready to be delivered! And that’s where it gets scary! Anyone who lives in the Northeast understands the state of the roads by the end of winter after a season of plows and salt has opened gaping potholes all along the roadways. We double-triple wrapped, strapped and tied these pieces in our enclosed trailer and crossed our fingers for the entire 45 minute drive!
Here she is in her permanent home!
This wall looks like it was made for this piece of furniture; and the customer’s color choices are spot on for the interior of this home! Thank You so much, Stacy, for trusting us with updating your family heirloom for the next generation!
Revive. Refresh. Restore. Lakeside Restoration.
All of the FUSION products used to transform this piece are available (along with personal instruction!) at both our brick and mortar locations and our online store.
Lakeside Restoration 1833 Monroe Ave Rochester, NY 14618
Vintage Matters 7060 Ridge Road Sodus, NY 14551
Online store: Online Shop Link
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These Are A Few of My Favorite Things; Missing Veneer, Broken Handles, Mysteriously Absent Trim
This project is True to our Mantra:
Revive. Refresh. Restore.
BEFORE
This duo was on it’s last stop before the trash heap, so despite having no room … they came home with me. After further inspection, most of the parts were contained in the drawers, and the interior was in great shape! Bonus!!
Transformation
Whenever someone suggests that simply slapping paint on wood shouldn’t take too much skill or time…. I recall how every clamp in my shop was doing double duty for weeks splicing these dressers back together. And did you ever notice how a dresser seems to triple the space it occupies once you remove the drawers? Then comes the washing (inside and out) dewaxing (yes, that is an invented word), and lightly sanding wood filler and years of blemishes. Each drawer interior then gets cleaned and sealed, often with hemp oil for an invisible finish that freshens up the interior wood to look like new.
Midnight Blue to the Rescue
One of my all-time favorite FUSION Mineral Paint colors, Midnight Blue is the perfect Little Black Dress for just about any piece of furniture. To obtain a smooth finish, I used a microfiber roller and a handmade Staalmeester Ultimate One brush for the Perfect Finish! I highly recommend the Staalmeester Ultimate brushes; with the caveat that you may never be able to go back to using a ‘common’ brush.
Tip Top
I’m partial to the look of real wood on the top of my dresser, so after piecing veneer back into place (the ultimate puzzle!) and patching some spots on the tops, I used the subtle opacity of FUSION’s new Double Espresso Gel Stain to camouflage the repairs while providing a durable wood finish. This product is great – especially for a piece that may not take well to sanding off the old finish to raw wood due to the veneer’s fragility.
AFTER
Capturing the true color is challenging in my space, I’ll keep trying to get a good glamour shot – but the After is definitely an improvement, even with substandard lighting. Along the way there was a brief trip to Rochester’s ReHouse Architectural Salvage to secure a single matching handle to replace a missing piece….that place is a life saver!!!
All of the products and tools used on this project are available for purchase (along with how-to instructions) at our shops on Monroe Ave in Brighton and Ridge Road in Sodus as well as at our online store;
https://lakeside-restoration.myshopify.com/
What projects have you painted in Midnight Blue? We would Love to see them – share them below!!
It’s Desk Season!
I just started working on a commissioned desk and found I was ridiculously excited about it! Folks are heading back to school, back to college, furnishing new offices…It is desk-season, after all! So, I couldn’t help but take a little stroll down my memory lane of desk projects.
I have a soft spot for a good desk; always have.
After all, I have spent many, many years behind a desk studying, reading, writing, working… and now, refinishing and reinventing them! Did I mention – I really love a good desk!
What did I ask for when I turned 18? You guessed it; a good desk! One to get me through college, graduate school & beyond…of course I still have it – it’s a good desk! We have at least 7 desks currently active at home…
After I refinished the desk below, my daughter announced she wanted it for her room. A proud Momma moment if I’ve ever had one! It’s a Beaut! And, of course, she has it in her room.
Big desks, little desks, white desks, black desks, smooth desks, distressed desks, writing desks, executive desks, secretary desks, children’s desks, even coastal desks!!
This is just a small sampling and doesn’t include some really bizarre, historic, and unique desks yet to be chronicled!
Do you have a favorite type of furniture to hoard…ahem, Collect? Refinish?
Is it Desks?!
Even if it isn’t desks, I’d love to hear and see what your favorite flavor of furniture is for collecting or restoring!
Also, please let us know if you’d like to know more about any of these pieces and the process that went into finishing them for future blog posts!
Blog Update
We have been so busy in 2019 that this blog has been sorely neglected. We have finally fixed older blog posts that were corrupted by software updates, and we will get to work trying to stay more current. The posts have evolved from a time when I was refinishing and selling in my home, to the current day when we have two retail locations to maintain and a building to care for. Not a whole lot of furniture rehab has been happening, but I’m hoping that tide is turning. It’s ironic for me to see here that there are no posts related to our large co-op, Vintage Matters in Sodus (where most of our time has been spent this year!); I hope to rectify that situation and highlight some of the awesome creativity and talent that has been congregating in that space.
I hope you take the opportunity to review old posts or check them out for the first time. I had fun reviewing them for repair – it’s nice to see some of the cool projects we may have forgotten about in the day to day hustle. Also, please let me know some topics you would like to see on our blog. I’m open to suggestions and would love to hear what you are looking for!
You can visit our Facebook page for tips and information about refinishing furniture http://www.lakesiderestoration.net
You can visit our online store at http://www.lakeside-restoration.myshopify.com
Battered Buffet
Oh how I have been in search of a buffet to paint!!
I finally found this set in an online auction and was pretty excited about the possibilities. The tricky thing about an online auction is you rarely have the opportunity to see the pieces live and “kick the tires”…it’s all reliant on photos.
In this case the photos didn’t really show the whole picture, and it’s even difficult to see in the photos I have posted here. The wood veneer on the china cabinet is, in fact, more gorgeous than these photos reveal. And I mean in a “holy cow no one should ever put paint on that beautiful wood” kind of way.
The buffet had, however been quite battered, including chipped veneer, poorly applied ancient shellac, and structural cracks. Perfect for Paint!!!
Luckily I was able to find a home for the china cabinet with someone who was as in love with the wood as I was and planned on sprucing up only the interior with some color. Whew!
First step after washing and scuff sanding was to remove the doors, drawers and hardware. After that it was on with stripping the old finish off the scratched and stained top to see what condition the wood was underneath.
A few coats of Citristrip later and it looked pretty good with the exception of some character-building dings and a single light burn mark from a hot dish. That helped to make the decision for a dark stain on top to blend in the burn. Here’s how it looked after two applications of Minwax Jacobean stain and a several thin layers of Polycrylic Matte for a topcoat.
For the body, I started with a good cleaning with TSP, light sanding and scrub with some odorless mineral spirits to remove any residual wax. A few repairs here and there (and everywhere…) – including repairing the top finish after some precariously stacked boards in the overstuffed garage were accidentally knocked onto the curing finish…yes, a variety of words were said.
A base coat of FUSION Concealer helped to solidify coverage for the first coat of FUSION Raw Silk. It only took two coats of Raw Silk to get great coverage overall. I used a microfiber roller on the flat spots and my go-to angled 2 inch flat brush for the rest. I was EXHAUSTED after working the flat brush into all of those curves on the legs…and I still missed a bunch of spots. This strategy was Not going to work.
Enter Staalmeester!
I had a set of Staalmeester brushes I have been wanting to try out, but frankly didn’t anticipate being wowed by any cutting edge paintbrush advances…I mean, it’s just a paintbrush, right?
Folks have been buzzing about how great the pointed sash brush is for getting into nooks and crannies, so I decided to give it a try since it couldn’t get worse than what I did with the flat brush!
H-O-L-Y C-O-W was I totally Wowed!!!!
The #18 pointed sash brush at the very bottom if the picture became my new favorite tool. It slid effortlessly into all of those nooks, held tons of paint, and laid down a smooth, even layer of paint in half the time it took me to attempt the base coat.
I will Never paint curves again without it!!!
After that valuable lesson, I have lightly distressed and partially antiqued this piece. I also reassembled the buffet and painted a few coats of concealer inside the cabinets and Chocolate inside the badly beaten drawers. Here’s a peek at the progress so far…
There is much more finishing work to be done – MORE TO COME!!!
Coming Along…
These 2 dressers were made by Star Furniture Company from Jamestown, NY. The company went out of business in 1929 so these dressers were crafted sometime in the 1920’s.
Overall they were in decent shape, however there was some missing trim that needed to be replaced and some that was barely attached and needed to be secured. There was also a lot of wax on these pieces so abundant odorless mineral spirits were used and the pieces were given an all-over light sanding.
I applied one coat of FUSION Mineral Paint Concealer to build a base layer and then it only took 2 coats of Fusion Raw Silk (my all-time favorite neutral white) to complete coverage.
After that, I very lightly distressed a few strategic places with sandpaper to highlight a few of the details and then applied Fusion Antiquing Glaze to further enhance details.
Although Fusion has a built-in top coat and cures hard enough to handle lots of wear and tear, I tend to treat horizontal surfaces roughly and therefore assume others do too. So, I treated the top with a couple of coats of FUSION Tough Coat just to make sure stains and things will never mar the top of this piece.
Lastly, a little clear wax on the drawer edges to ensure continued smooth sliding and she was finished!
Before…
After!
Next comes the sister dresser with the attached mirror…
Antique Secretary
From this,
To This:
I picked this up from a college student moving out of her apartment – she bought this with plans to paint it but it never even made it into her apartment! This sweet compact secretary sat in her breezeway collecting mail and dust and now her lease was up and she needed to move on.
I really liked the texture of the wood on this piece and wanted to make sure it was accentuated. FUSION Homestead Blue has such great coverage that one thin coat was all I needed so it didn’t flatten out the grain. While you could see the wood texture close up, the color was a bit too uniform for what I was trying to do, so I used FUSION’s antiquing glaze with a little extra Chocolate paint mixed in to darken it up. Finally, I added a tiny bit of strategic distressing so it didn’t look too new and further accentuated some areas with a bit of black wax. While I didn’t need to use wax for sealing because FUSION has a built-in topcoat, I wanted some extra depth. I LOVE how easy this wax is to use and how forgiving the black wax is.
The interior was papered with some illegible script and a few of the organizers were painted inside with Soapstone to add some interest.
With the new finish, the original hardware really stands out and makes more of a statement than before.
Provincial Dresser Makeover
This dresser project has been many many many months long. She has actually been completed for some time now, but I hadn’t gotten around to taking her “After” pictures until just recently.
Here is where she started; A room full of project furniture…of course. Try to ignore the rest and focus on the tall, yellowish French Provincial dresser to the right of center.
She was so very tired looking but was a quality, solid wood piece and very well constructed. The whole set of provincial bedroom furniture came from the original owners so there were no loose joints or missing pieces to contend with.
I like natural wood accents on my painted furniture projects, so the first step was easy – strip the top and see what was under there! The sweet cherry wood under that factory paint finish was then stained and sealed. I painted the body of the dresser creamy white (FUSION Mineral Paint Casement) and struggled a bit with what to do with the details. Paint a darker cream to highlight the features? A deeply contrasting color? Leave it all white (my significant other liked that idea). How to make it fit into the cottage…
A little taste of Before and After.
If you look closely, one of the updated provin
cial headboards is to the right of the dresser (painted in the same Little Whale blue) – but that will be for another blog post – and once the other bed is finished!
What are your thoughts about the hardware color? Would you have chosen a softer or bolder accent color to go with the style of the lakeside cottage?
Rethink the piece. Revive the parts. Restore the function.
All products used to complete this project can be purchased at our Online Store https://lakeside-restoration.myshopify.com/
or our brick and mortar locations;
Vintage Matters 7060 Ridge Road, Sodus, NY OR Lakeside Restoration 1833 Monroe Ave Rochester, NY.
See more at our Facebook Page and please “Like” our page while you are there! http://www.lakesiderestoration.net
Beachy FUN!
Maybe it’s because it’s been a LONG winter in Upstate NY; or perhaps it’s because our family just returned from visiting the beach in Florida; maybe it even has something to do with the obsession I have had with painting furniture either black or white or black or off-white…But I felt the need for some Cheesy Fun Furniture!
I busted out of my rut by jumping into some FUSION Midnight Blue (OK, not so different from Coal Black, but it’s a start!) and a little reverse stencil staining on top of this great (heavy) oak side table.
I started by cutting the shape of an anchor out of contact paper and placing it on the previous finish. Then, I used a darker stain to cover the surface. Once dried, I peeled off the contact paper and gently sanded to bring the surface level.
I tried a similar technique on the whale and waves after painting the table legs….you guessed it – Little Whale Blue from the Tones for Tots FUSION line. However I preferred not to bring the tabletop much darker and it wasn’t a strong image, so I ended up covering that with a traditional stencil and washing it with Homestead House’s Driftwood stain & finishing oil. I think it’s just Cute!
Ahhh, so that has been my beachy, nautical adventure in painting this week. I hope it also brings smiles to many other faces! What fun color or technique do you want to try on a piece but haven’t because you convince yourself it’s too silly? I say Go For It – it’s just paint and wood – what real harm can it do? …and it might just turn out Beautiful!
Rehabilitate, Refurbish, Restore
Welcome to the blog detailing my adventures in furniture repair and refinishing. While I have a little formal training in furniture refinishing and repair, I have many more years of experience dragging home hopeless-looking “projects” (often from the side of the road on trash-day) and experimenting on them to improve their utility and aesthetics. Between free finds, garage sales and estate sales, I have furnished many homes along the way and learned a great deal about what works and what doesn’t.
Along the way, our family has been affected by some significant, life-changing events, we’ve purchased a workshop, and rented a retail space. The blog posts that follow focus on one of two area – restoring and rehabbing furniture, or restoring and rehabbing our space for the furniture business. Feel free to skip over the business stuff if you just want to see furniture and vice-versa. Just keep scrolling, there’s lots to see here!
I have photographed the progress of a few projects to share, however I also get too impatient at times, so all I have to show is the finished project. The photo of the desk above, for instance. I kick myself for not having any “before” photos of the names and other graffiti carved through the finish and into the thin desktop and drawer-front veneer.
The woman I purchased this from told me this had belonged to her grandmother and that her cousin, Joy, had inscribed her name in the top many years ago. This beauty had definitely seen some hard use over the years, but after some stripping, careful sanding, staining, and lots of protective sealer, she turned out nicely. Its one of my favorite pieces. My daughter decided she wanted it for her room, and after all the work she witnessed going into it, I’m sure she won’t be inscribing it with graffiti … ever!
Don’t you love learning the stories behind how a piece of furniture earned it’s character?
Orange Dining Table and Chairs
Imagine orange velour. Not bright, cheery, fun orange… I mean stained, dirty, aged orange velour. That is exactly what I had scored with this dining set.
In fact, even the table finish had a bit of an orange hue that developed with its age.
And it gets better – if you look closely, you can see the dated diamond pattern in the table top.
The look on my spouse’s face clearly questioned what (perhaps if) I was thinking.
What I was thinking is that this was a solid wood dining set with two captain chairs and I was getting it for a ridiculously low price as an estate sale leftover. I needed furniture to practice on so low cost was key. What’s the worst that could happen?
First up – what to do about the caning.
Most of the caning was in perfect shape, except for a small hole in one chair back. After researching, I had no desire to to repair the caning – not necessarily because it looked difficult (it does) rather because I decided I didn’t love the look of caned chair backs. Besides, they leave those little annoying patterns on your back if you sit in them for a while…
No question I would be recovering the seats, so I also decided to pad and upholster the cane. After painting the chairs, of course.
Paint & Stain
Since farmhouse tables seem to be the trend, I went with painting the chairs and table base a creamy white. I’m not a fan of the distressed look, so after cleaning with TSP substitute, sanding and priming, I painted with a solid white.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo, but my first attempt at upholstering the chairs with the gorgeous cream linen (bought on sale) looked very nice. In fact, too nice – it made the chairs look way too formal for the farmhouse style I was going for. So, I went back to the fabric store and picked a different fabric. After batting and upholstering the chair backs and cushions, here is how they came out on the second try.
I really wanted to have the stained wood table-top look, however, remember the criss-cross diamond pattern? Yuck. While I had never used a gel-stain (which is effectively a tinted polyurethane that sits on top of the existing finish) this seemed like a good time to try it. Using a large, wide brush, I applied several layers of deep brown in one direction across the width of the table. This darkened enough to hide the criss-cross while making a texture that resembled the depth of wood grain.
On this project, I learned a few things along the way about how much space it takes to comfortably refinish a table and all of those chairs (answer: more than I have in my home/garage). I also became pretty proficient with a pneumatic stapler by the end of the project. Overall it was a great learning experience and confidence-builder for me and this dining set will get a new life now that it has been updated.
Before After
