If you hop over to the Frugal Girl's post today, you will see the results of an oak table she redid. Recently, she moved into an unfurnished house and needed furniture-some of which she found in an abandoned house that her brother bought, including her table.
When I first saw parts of the table she was working on, I realized that it was the same table we had and that we planned to redo it somehow before moving it back into the kitchen. While our table was in better shape than hers, we had had it for over 30 years and it was well worn. I watched with curiosity to see what she was going to do and liked her idea of painting the base and staining the top. Ward who was going to do much of the work liked that idea too since sanding the curved base enough so it could be stained would was going to be an almost impossible job.
The first thing he did was cut the leaf into 1/3 and 2/3 portions. The table goes into a relatively small space and that gives us more flexibility in fitting the table size to the situation. This required extra hardware and a fair amount of adjustment, but it all works now. Ward's finishing process was much like what the Frugal Girl did, but he did some extra steps when he finished the top. I think this was as much as for a learning experience as anything else, but it produced beautiful results.
As for the colors, the base is one of the colors in our backsplash tile and the top has a walnut stain.
We have moved the table back into the kitchen and as of last weekend, the kitchen was finally done enough that we could start moving back in. More pictures coming soon of the whole room. But for now, here's our new-to-us table.
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| In darker lighting, the base looks dark blue and the top looks browner. |
What an impressive rehab. Just like FG's. Love to see furniture with good bones being reused and kept out of the landfill.
ReplyDeleteThe table is solid wood and it would have been hard to replace it with something with the same quality without spending tons of money. It's a win-win situation. We have a good table and don't have the problem of what to do with the old one.
DeleteWow, it looks great!! Also great news to hear your kitchen project might be reaching completion!!
ReplyDeletebetty
The whole thing turned out so well. Ward did some extra steps to make the top look especially good, and he put so much work into it, he's protective of it. However, it will get daily use for a lot of different things, so it's only a matter of time before it gets its first scratch. I'm trying to prepare him for that. Maybe, I'll look into a table cloth.
DeleteOh, that's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt looks even better in person.
DeleteYou should send Frugal Girl an email with an attached picture. It's fun that you were both working on the same table at the same time.
ReplyDeleteUnsurprisingly, Ward did a fabulous job. I've debated painting the base of my table to update it but not sure I want to go to that much work. We bought the table and 4 chairs from friends early in our marriage for $50 (I think the sellers felt sorry for the poor young couple, haha). It's a very sturdy set, the kind that was popular in the 1980s (dark oak), so it definitely looks dated, but I can fit 11 people around it in a pinch and it has held up amazingly well. Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I'm glad you showed us your new-to-you table!
A solid wood table that seats 10/11 would be hard to come by these days-or at least at an affordable price. Our table has been worn and dated for several years, but it took the kitchen remodel for us to actually do anything about it. I'm very happy that a painted base and stained top actually seems to be in style-at least for a while.
DeleteI love how you and Ward refinished your table! Yes, a table cloth or even a couple of table runners might be helpful to keeping the top unscratched! Or a glass top? Glad to hear that the kitchen remodel is nearing completion! :)
ReplyDeleteI asked Ward about getting a plexiglass or glass topper for the table and he said that if a piece of sand or similar thing got under the top, it would make worse scratches than if it didn't have a top. He said we'll just use it as intended--which means for everything. :)
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