DIY: Farmhouse Table Up Cycle

Well folks, this project we totally lucked into. We happened into DI for a reason I can't remember. We always take a pass by the furniture in case something catches our eye. Well, something did. We picked up this table for  $50.

I know. It looks terrible. Trust me. It was even worse than the picture shows. We both seriously doubted the potential of this table.

We started sanding and we couldn't believe what we found.

All hard wood. No laminate. We realized what a nice piece of furniture we had after a day of sanding by hand.

Now, I had a vision of what I wanted this table to look like. So we headed off to our favorite DIY store, Home Depot. We bought ebony stain. We took it home and we were so excited to get started. As soon as the little was down for the evening, we went to work. We learned two things this night.

1. NEVER stain in the dark or even kind of dark.
2. ALWAYS test a small piece before you stain the entire thing.

In the morning this is what we found.

A black table. The intent was not to have a black table. Did you know ebony was black? I didn't. So, we went to work sanding again. But, did you know black is even harder to get off? So we had to borrow a sander. We also used paint stripper it was that difficult. Eventually, after much more work sanding than the first time around we got the table looking like a clean cutting board again.

We went back to the DIY headquarters and purchased another stain. This time we got espresso. We stained totally in daylight and we tested a small area firs to make sure it was the desired effect. It was! Thank goodness we didn't have to spend anymore time doing deep sanding.

This photo is from before we sealed it.

Did you know when up cycle a piece of furniture you should really seal it for longevity? This meant more sanding, but thankfully it was light sanding. So yes, you are understanding me correctly. We sanded the table after it was stained. But only after we had applied two coats of polyurethane clear coat. We used 220 sandpaper and lightly stained to take out the brush strokes from applying the seal. We then applied another coat of sealant and then we sanded this table to the last time using a 500 grit sandpaper. PS you can't find 500 at DIY Headquarters. You have to go to an auto store. Then after we sanded using the 500 sandpaper, we brought the table into the house and we applied the final coat of sealant. WAX. We buffed it on and then buffed it off. Now, we have a  beautiful dining set. Don't worry, I have plans to make benches to match!

If you didn't notice a recurring theme with this project it was this, I HATE SANDING. This is the most sanding we have ever done on a project. Mostly because of the error we made. But still, so much sanding. Most of it done by hand. If you decide to up cycle a table and have questions, leave me a comment!