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Friday, June 11, 2010

A Table That Will Last

I finally refinished my kitchen table! What I thought would take a Memorial day weekend ended up taking a week. Mostly because I took extra care to make sure it would be durable. It was worth it though cuz it is beautiful and I am so happy with it now!

Here is my table before. Not too bad and pretty flowers but too much brown for me.

And with 7 good years this is what it looked like close up. Eww!

This is my kitchen and I thought a cream color table would stand out from the floor and the brown leather couches on the other side and brown drapes on the other side. The cream would also tie into the island bead board, bar stools and ceramic accents.


Creamy goodness close ups.
As you can see I sanded and lightly glazed for the antique look. And with this high traffic table the antiquing will hide any nicks and scrapes the kiddies might make.
Here are the steps I took to make sure this table will stand the test of time.
1. Sand off the polyurethane (shiny finish). The primer will stick better. You can also use a deglosser product.
After I sanded I rolled on 2 coats of Kilz primer (brushed the bottom).
After the primer rolled on 2 coats of Creamy Cottage by Behr.
Then I sanded the edges with my power sander.
Next is glaze. I like Ralph Lauren glaze. It is thicker than most which is better for furniture. Most are thinner which is better for walls. But sadly Home Depot is clearing it out and replacing it with a Martha Stewart line.
Before
During- I wipe on with a brush and wipe off with a damp rag.
After- gets in the grooves for antique beauty. Allow to dry completely.
Then I polyed 3 coats for an extra tough protective finish. Brush on and wait 2 hours between each coat and 24 hours to fully dry after that. For a cream or white table you have to use water based poly. Which is called polycrylic because regular polyurethane will yellow over time.

Now I have to do all that all over again for my chairs. Wish me luck! After that I hope to tackle the kiddie table and chairs and make them different fun colors.



UPDATE:
I used a flat finish paint. This way the glaze and poly adhere better to it. Because the paint is a flat finish I didn't see the need to sand between coats like some do.

The glaze I used was Lowe's asphaultum antiquing glaze. I only recommend using this if you are putting a poly over it. It is thinner and doesn't seem to dry 100%.

If you use Ralph Lauren Glaze, the Home Depot guys can tint it for you. But warning it is being discontinued! You choose the color tint you want. I prefer a brown tint.

54 comments:

  1. I love this. You did such a great job! Good luck with chairs. I hate doing chairs with lots of spindles :-(

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  2. I found you through New Friend Fridays. I have redoing my dresser on my 101 in 1001 list but I wasn't sure how to tackle it. This was a great help! Your table looks beautiful!

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  3. Gorgeous, love it....visiting from New Friend Friday. I am now a follower!

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  4. so so so so pretty. i really love it!

    jumping in from NFF...first time i have played!

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  5. Do did an amazing job on your table! It looks so beautiful now! I really love it!!

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  6. This looks great in the room! I love white furniture.

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  7. Beautiful! I'm surprised it only took you a week. That is a huge project and you did an awesome job on it. It is fabulous!

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  8. Awesome looking makeover...coming by from SNS!

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  9. Did you use Ralph Lauren Acrylic Glaze? I love what you did?

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  10. Hello! Love what you did with your table!! Awesome job! I have a table I need to paint & have been wondering how to tackle it.. Thanks so much for sharing your tutorial! What a big help this is! I just signed up to follow so I'll be back to visit again soon. Stop by my blog sometime! :)

    Hope you are having a great weekend!
    Blessings ~ Teresa

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  11. I love painted furniture--especially against a dark hardwood floor. The slipcovered chairs really bring it together. Great update!

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  12. WOW! GREAT job girl, I think it looks amazing.

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  13. It looks great! Glad you left the chairs dark. The slips balance so well!

    kelee from met mon.

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  14. Nice job! The room has come together nicely.
    Dropping by from Met Monday, 18ft island kitchen.

    Allison
    Atticmag

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  15. It's beautiful! I am doing the same thing with a similar table only going with black. Good luck with your chairs, I'm just doing something with them like what you previously did- slip covers!

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  16. Just gorgeous!
    My hubby painted ours last summer that same cottage white by Behr. My table is very similar to yours!
    You did a really good job, I know that is a lot of work too.
    Cindy

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  17. Fantastic job! And thanks for those little tips too! Very helpful for us furniture painting newbies!

    ~Rainey~

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  18. You did a great job on this stunning table! What fun when it's completed.
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

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  19. I am in the process of doing the very same thing, so I appreciate your directions, especially the water based Poly - I am also going to paint Harlequin diamonds on my top...should be done in a week or 2

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  20. Your table looks stunning. What a wonderful transformation... hugs ~lynne~

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  21. Ah... BIG difference from the before. I have an oak special I need to revamp as well. Perhaps I'll put that on my GD list soon.

    Thanks for the inspiration and linking up to GD! Your after looks wonderful!

    Donna

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  22. The table looks great. Thanks for all of the wonderful tips too! I never would have thought about the yellowing over time.

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  23. I love the revamped table. It's fabulous!!! Much better than the before.

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  24. Thanks for this. I'm getting ready to do mine and you saved me research. It looks beautiful.

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  25. Hi Danielle,
    I am so jealous of girls that can make a finishing technique look so awesome!
    Your table is just lovely!
    Thank you for showing me how it's done!!
    Lots of layers=lots of patience!
    Blessings to you as you make your home!
    ~me

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  26. It looks so good in that creamy color! I haven't used the ralph glaze but I hear a lot about it. It gave it just the right amount of distressing.

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  27. Question...I went into Home Depot looking for glaze and "the guy" told me I would have to "tint" it and I got confused...I want to glaze my table after painting it Heirloom White, but I am not sure what I am looking for - Can you help? Another question: I see Syracuse is popping up oon your side bar - are you from that area, because I am?

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  28. I love your table, absolutely lovely!!!

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  29. did I say great job??? nope, so let me say it!!!

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  30. Beautiful work! LOVE how it all ties in and you have fun colorful accents too. We shoulda swapped our projects - I've done my chairs cream, but not my oval pedestal table (yet)! THANKS for the inspiration and great tips. Maybe now, I'll "gitter done."
    hugs,
    Leslie

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  31. OHH, it looks great! I need to refinish the top of mine. I think you've put a fire under me!

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  32. Would love it if you would join me for my 2nd linky party tonight!!

    http://lifeinmypjs.blogspot.com/2010/06/pajama-party-2.html

    ~Ela

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  33. Lovely finish! I have a table and chairs set that I have been stalling on forever. The chairs make me cringe when I think about sanding all of the nooks and crannies. UGH! Seeing yours makes me realize I should just bite the bullet and do it.

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  34. The table is gorgeous! Love the creamy cottage color. You did a beautiful job! I did buy the Ralph Lauren Glaze to glaze an off white dresser and got confused with what to tint it with..the same question Patti had. Can you tell me what to use to get the effect as you did on your table? The Home Depot guy had no clue so now I have a gallon of clear glaze. Enjoy your table...it's fabulous!

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  35. Well Home depot usually has a big sample chart of colors it can be tinted and you choose from there what color tint you want. If they don't have that because it is being discontinued- like what was happening at my store a month ago- you can choose a brown paint off the shelf and they can mix it in for you- the ratio of paint to glaze should be 1 to 3. Good Luck!

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  36. Super !!! It looks so fresh and beautiful!!!

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  37. I love a good table makeover! And what a great job you did! It looks amazing! I can't wait to see what the chairs look like!

    BTW - I use Ralph Lauren Glaze in Smoke. Love it. My HD said they were keeping the glazes....hmmmm...although, I have a whole gallon, so I may not need new stuff for quite some time!

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  38. I LOVE the table! It is just beautiful. I just read a post over at infarrently creative that talks about how to clean the different poly sealers so as not to get a sticky finish. You probably already know about it, but I just thought I would share since I found it very interesting.

    http://infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com/2010/06/ask-experts.html

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  39. Love the transformation. I'm on a painting kick, too!

    Hey! I found a link to your blog (and mine too!) on a RUSSIAN website. I’m sending the site and I also translated it with Babelfish translator. Thought you might get a kick out of this. Too funny!
    http://pegaskosmos.blogspot.com/

    http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpegaskosmos.blogspot.com%2F&lp=ru_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

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  40. You're inspiring me to paint my table!

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  41. Wonderful transformation. The glaze finish sets it off perfectly; love it! Pam @ Sallygoodin

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  42. Looks so great! I have to redo my dining table too...I always thought it would take a week... so now I am worried it will take me two!

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  43. Girlfriend, you did a marvelous job on this. And, you know that most of us have a table that looks like that sitting in our house. Thanks for the great tutorial.

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  44. I love how your table turned out. Please come do mine! Thanks for sharing and have a great day!

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  45. Wow this is gorgeous! Great job.

    I am hosting a giveaway and I'd love it if you stopped by.

    Laura @ along for the ride

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  46. Well done, good job. Looks more friendy than before.
    Gretings, Johanna

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  47. This looks so pretty -- what a sense of accomplishment you must have.

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  48. Great job!!

    Thanks so much for linking up to Pajama Party at Life In My Pjs!!

    ~Ela

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