a table for coffee and other things - a tutorial

About a month and a half ago, I found a coffee table sitting by its lonesome on the curb. To be fair, Philip saw it from afar. Regardless, both of us could see beams of light and possibility shining down from the heavens as we approached it on an afternoon run. We traded looks, knew we should at least give it a try, and I ran back home to get the car.

I have grandiose ideas about all the things I'll do with wood and a sander and paint and stain, but rarely does it turn out. Despite this project taking a long time because of a sudden drop in temperatures after a one particularly balmy weekend (when I decided to attempt this thingy), I'm pleased with the result. We let it sit in the living room and act as a coffee table for a few weeks just because I was super lazy so we would appreciate the transformation even more when it finally happened. Finally, Philip helped me drag it outside on our front porch, and I took off the legs and proceeded to sand it. And sand it. And sand it. And then sand it. I had a sander that I got at a yard sale for $10, and I highly recommend you also find one before attempting a project like this, because it will save your hands. But not your ears. (I had to wear ear muffs, this sander is so old and so loud.) Apologies to my entire neighborhood.

So here is a step-by-step tutorial for a coffee table makeover. You will need:

• A coffee table
• An old sheet or blanket to work on
• A wood sanding fiberglass respirator (you know - those weird nose/mouth masks)
• 3 paintbrushes: 1 for pre-stain wood conditioner, 1 for primer and paint, and 1 for stain (you can also use an old rag for stain and pre-stain if you don't want to mess up a paintbrush)
• Several sheets of 80-grit sandpaper (depending on how many layers you need to take off to get to bare wood)
• Primer for the coffee table base(I used a regular old can of white interior wall primer)
• Painter's tape (or clear packing tape if you're cheap like me)
• Cream colored paint for table base (I used Behr Premium Plus Interior Eggshell Enamel...note: I think it would have been easier if I had used spray paint)
• Krylon Clear Polyurethane spray (not the satin finish) 

When you are sanding, by the way, depending on what grit you decide to use and how much you decide to sand, you will get an incredible amount of dust everywhere. Make sure you have the space and ventilation for that (same for when you are staining; the fumes are pretty intense).

I decided to go with a farmhouse theme for the coffee table, so I needed to sand the table top much more thoroughly than the bottom to remove all the varnish. After a couple hours dedicated just to sanding the top (with 80-grit sandpaper), I had a product that looked like the top picture above. Very smooth and bare and actually a lot prettier than the varnish (you can see what color it was at the very beginning by looking at the legs in the top picture).

Afterward, I had some leftover-from-another-project Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner, so I put on one coat of that on the table top before beginning to stain.

*Side note: I regret staining the top before painting the bottom of the table. When I did start painting, I somehow managed to get some of the paint on the top and ended up having to sand those places a bit and do another coat of stain on the whole table top to cover up the spots.

I used a small container of Minwax (color: honey) stain on the table top after I let the wood conditioner dry for about 20 minutes. Because it was just the table top, I didn't need much stain at all and hardly used any of the tiny container I bought.

After about 15 minutes, I went outside and used paper towels to take off any excess stain, then let it dry overnight. The next day I flipped the table over, put down clear packing taped around the overhang of the table, and painted on a coat of white primer on the base.

After one coat of primer, we had a snow storm, and I went inside to hibernate for about a week and a half. Then on the next 50 degree day, I came back outside and painted on two coats of eggshell-colored paint.

After the two coats of paint had dried (the next day), I flipped the table back over, cringed at the white spots on my stained table top, did a little touch up sanding, and put on one final coat of stain to the table top (careful not to get stain on the white base...although I think I flicked little tiny bits on it with my paintbrush, and it didn't look terrible...) After about an hour, I wiped off the excess stain and sprayed the top down with one thin coat of clear polyurethane.

And then I looked at the finished product, and it was almost good. Besides that there were no knobs on the drawer. So I found knobs for very cheap at Hobby Lobby, and they were just the right finishing touch. Thar she blows!

Cheers!