Wobbly tables drive me nuts. Our table for our eat in kitchen had been re-worked several times, but a crack in the base made it wobble like crazy. So I was on the hunt for a round dining table I could re-do for our eat in kitchen.
We eat at this table all the time, do homework here, play dough, crafts – everything happens here. I wish we used our “formal” dining room more often, but instead this is where we gather. That means it needs to be sturdy, solid wood, and needs to last!
I spotted this old empire style pedestal table at an antique store a few weeks ago. It was buried underneath many treasures, but the sticker read $50. I went home to measure, and headed back to grab it. Because we bought a few more things while we were there the price was knocked down to $40. That price for a solid wood, round dining table is a steal!! I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to work on it!
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The top had a few small chips in the veneer, and a big old water ring. The only way to properly remove a water ring is to sand down to bare wood and re-stain. That was the plan for this anyway, so no worries.
The top of this table is tiger oak. It’s a veneer over solid wood (veneer is just a very thin piece of wood usually 1/8″ or less). Whenever you are sanding veneer you need to use a bit of caution and just make sure you don’t get to aggressive and sand through it. I started with 120 grit sandpaper on my 1/4 pad sander (here’s a similar one), but it wasn’t cutting through the varnish fast enough so I switched to 80 grit. ALWAYS sand with the grain of the wood, this will prevent scratches showing through the final finish.
Here’s the piece half sanded. The raw wood is so much lighter. I decided against filling the veneer chips, I just didn’t feel like it was necessary on this piece. It’s going to be well loved in our house so more chips are bound to occur. I figured I’d just embrace the character on this round dining table as it was.
I used my favorite stain combo to stain the top of this piece. It’s a 50/50 mix of General Finishes Antique Oak & Walnut Water Based Stain. I mixed it in an empty kitchen jar, and applied it with a rag.
Isn’t it lovely??! This is where you can really see the “tiger stripes” of the tiger oak. It’s a gorgeous piece of wood. Once the stain was dry (water based stain only needs to dry a few hours), it was time to top coat the piece.
Because this is going to be a kitchen table, I decided to use Arm-R-Seal in satin finish. Arm-R-Seal is an oil based topcoat. It soaks into the wood reviving it, while giving just a bit of shine. It’s a very durable finish and easy to clean (perfect for this space). Arm-R-Seal is just a wipe on top coat. I used a rag, wiped on a thin coat. Let dry (12-24 hours) and lightly sand with 400 grit sandpaper between coats. You have to build up your coats with this product, I was happy with 4 coats total.
UPDATE: this my friends is the most durable finish I’ve found for kitchen table tops. We use this table daily and it’s held up super well. It’s worth the extra time and work of the oil based finish to get a durable finish that will last!
Once I had a few coats of top coat in the works, it was time to paint. I chose General Finishes Queenstown Gray for the base, this table sits right next to the hutch I finished last year with the Queenstown interior. Queenstown Gray is just the perfect dark gray, it’s neutral enough that it’s not a color, but it really showcases the wood top of the round dining table, and makes for a beautiful combo to enhance the rest of the kitchen/dining room area.
Here it is all finished and in place. I LOVE it!!! The chairs are painted in Coastal Blue, and I quite like the combination of blue and gray.
The top is smooth, with just a bit of luster. The grain in the wood almost glows thanks to the Arm-R-Seal, and the table cleans up so easily!
I did remove the old caster wheels from this piece, it was too high with them in. I love the color of the base and the contrast with the light gray on the walls. Not too bad for a $40 round dining room table makeover, am I right??!
Don’t be afraid to try something new!
Until next time,
Jenni
What an absolutely stunning set you created Jenni!
I love it.
Hilary
Thank you!! I love it too!!
Wow! Great job! It looks amazing. And what a good deal!
Thank you!!
Love this! Thanks for the inspiration.
That is soooo pretty! Good job!
Thank you very much!!
the table turned out "Beautiful"! I have basically the same table but the top finish, I believe, is a veneer. I has a lovely, but stained, finish. Do you recommend a (light) sanding of that type of finish, and how does it take to staining? Love your posts!
Love it!
It is absolutely gorgeous
This is AMAZING! Do you have any advice when looking for a table to re-stain? I am in the process of trying to find one almost exactly like you have here and I am nervous about getting something that might have too much damage beyond repair.
Thanks!
That’s a great question!! Only you know your skill level in repair, so follow your gut. Most wood is repair-able it just depends how much work and time you want to spend on it. I tend to make sure there is not loose or missing veneer, make sure the piece isn’t wobbly (that’s a hard thing to fix), and check to make sure there is no obvious odor. Otherwise, make sure you like the size and shape of it, the rest can be changed!! I hope that helps – I plan to answer this question in more depth on a future blog post.
I have decided I am going to do my table over….I kept going back and forth what I was going to with my table and now seeing what you did which by the way you did a beautiful job I am going to do mine over
Yay!! Do it, you won’t regret it!!!
Beautiful! I too am redoing a wood table with veneer top. I wanted to paint it so I sanded with 220 grit paper and everybody said sand lightly well I got over zealous in some spots and it was wavy looking so everybody said have to use bondo so I did now I have more of a mess! Can I just sand all of the veneer off and still paint? You make it look so easy! I love your table! Thank you.
I’m not sure if you can sand off the veneer. If you are painting, sand until it’s smooth and then paint! Use a heavier grit like 120 to get it going a little quicker for you!!
Beautiful table! I am going to refinish my dining table. Did you have to seal the paint you used on the chairs and base? If so what did you use?? Thank you!
Thank you!! Nope, I didn’t seal the base or the chairs. They’ve held up great!! I have three kids and we sit there multiple times a day. I just use an all purpose cleaner to spray the chairs down and wipe them down when needed!!
This looks fantastic! Did you and the bar, column and legs before painting?
Thank you! I stained the top first before painting. Then sanded and prepped the base a bit and got to painting!
LOVE LOVE LOVE what you did to this table. I’m new at refinishing furniture. I was always told you should use water base topcoat for heavy used furniture to avoid water stains. However, you used an oil based top coat. Can you tell me the difference between the between oil & water?
Hi Terri! Great question! Looks like a blog post is in order on this topic!! Oil based topcoat are actually generally more durable than water based. The oil soaks into the wood and penetrates for a deeper seal of the wood. Oil based dries slower, so there’s usually a full day between coats, but usually goes on very easy (with just a rag). Water based is safer to use, dries quicker (re-coat in 2-4 hrs) and is a nice hard finish, it just isn’t quite as durable. I also find that the water based topcoats do leave temporary water rings that dry and disappear, but it can be alarming at first. If you can, go with something like Arm-R-Seal like I used in this post. Stay tuned…more info coming!
This is so beautuful! Is tge costal blue from
Rustoleum? And did it need multiplecoats to get that rich navy color?
The paint I use is General Finishes Milk Paint. You can find it at local retailers or Amazon!
Stunning work!!! Question on the chairs and base… did you fully sand them, and did you use water or oil based on the chairs and base?
Hi Jenn! I just purchased a “project kitchen table.” Like you, going to refinish the top paint the bottom. Did you not sand and prime the bottom? I’ll be so happy if I can skip those steps!
Hi there! Yay for a project! I do scuff sand with just 220 grit sandpaper, just quickly to scratch up the existing finish. Clean and then paint!! No need to sand to raw wood or prime. Good luck, and have fun!
My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was totally right. This post truly made my day. You cann’t imagine just how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
If I was revamping this table I would have never thought to paint the base that colour but it works so well! I also have to mention I love the fact you did a kid friendly tutorial, our dining table is also the hub of our house and it certainly needs to be durable.
Thank you so much! I love this table, it’s held up so well, we use it daily!! I love that it’s a really old piece that now has a whole new life! Kid friendly is my type of tutorial! My kids are rough on things 😉
Hi Jenni, what kind of chalk paint glaze and wax do you use and where do buy it. It seems everything I have been watching and looking up is always Annie Sloan, I can’t where to buy it anywhere found 1-2 on line but I rather go to a store if possible or at least a web site like yours. Some of them are just bad. I enjoy everything you do. Can you help me If you sell it Chalk paint do you have a chart? I need help I want to start doing this, I even found a piece I wanted to at a thrift store but missed out on it because I don’t know where to get paint- brushes etc. Can you help me. Thanks Connie Have a great day
Hi Connie! I use and recommend General Finishes Milk Paint. Download my free ebook to get you started – it has a full supply list included: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/373630?v=7