{coffee table redo}

I refinished my coffee table over a year ago now.  I had posted about it on my family blog.  I had a few comment's asking how I did it.  I took before & after pics but got so excited to get it done that I really didn't think about the in between pics.  So I thought I'd do a tutorial the best I can with the lack of pics I have.  Here goes.....

I found this beauty at my local D.I. (Utah thrift store).  I loved that it was square.  At the time I had a sectional, so it was puurfect.  But then we bought new couches, yep plural; two couches.  We wanted the same amount of space as the sectional without the actual sectional. lol!  So it ended up being just as perfect.  Yay, for me!

sorry about the dark pic

I washed her up & then started sanding.  I sanded, & sanded, & sanded some more.  I even enlisted help from the hubster.  I wanted to get as much of the old finish up as I could.  

When I got it sanded the way I wanted, I started to stain her.  I had a hard time deciding on how dark I wanted it.  So I bought a Minwax walnut & dark walnut stain.  I did a small section with each color.  I ended up going with the dark walnut.  I just loved it so much more!  I just bought the plain ol'stain without poly in it because I planned do a finish at the end anyway.  But either would do, it's just a preference thing;)  

check out the difference from the original color.  Wowza, I know!  I LOVE it!!












After I got her all stained I did one coat of poly.  I then lightly sanded her, with a very fine grit sandpaper & added a glaze.  You just paint on the glaze & then wipe off.  Wiping if off can be kinda tricky.  My daddy-o who happens to be a custom house painter, well ex-house painter showed me the correct technic. 
*When you paint it on you want to do long even strokes.  So from one end to the other, as straight as you can.  Then when you take some off, you want your tack cloth or other cloth really, in kind of a waded ball shape & you do the same long even strokes.  If you get wavy, you'll see it.  Depending on the look you're going for, depends on how much you take back off. You also want to make sure you get it off as fast as you put it on.  Don't do it in direct sunlight, as it might dry faster.  You want to work with it still wet.  Also if you can't get it all off that fast, do a section at a time.  The purpose of the glaze is to give it a distressed or aged look.  I love how mine turned out! 

I also love how it left some really dark spots.  Some of those spots are from where I may or may not have sanded a little more than the rest;)  Even so, I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  The glaze also got into all the old scratches & groves.  Which I love too!! I then put a few more coats of poly, letting it dry in between coats.  If it gets where it feels a bit gritty in some areas, you can do a light sand, with a really, really fine sandpaper.  And then if needed another coat of poly.

Well there you have it.  Hopefully you get the just but if you have any questions please ask, I love comments any way I can get them;)

So what are some things your dying to refinish??  Please share, I'd love to hear what your up to........  Thanks for stopping by.  Ta Ta for now=)