Yay for furniture refinishing projects! Those are my favorite kind of DIY- takes me back to my high school wood shop days.
As part of mission "rid the main floor of all the dark furniture", I knew I would keep our table, but ditch the chairs for newer ones while also adding a bench for more seating. I'm absolutely positively in LOVE with the farmhouse table look, especially when given a gray wash finish. I spent sooo long researching products and other blog posts to see what process would yield the result I was after. There are TONS of methods to do this, (and a really great round up of different gray finishes HERE) so this is just one of them, but it's basically creating a faux weathered look by layering different paint and stains.
Step 1: SAND
I started by using a rough grit sand paper and orbital sander to sand off the existing finish to the bare wood. That was a lot of sanding...but WORTH it! While I was taking off the finish I sanded all of the sharp edges to give a more worn look. After that I sanded the whole thing again with a fine grit sand paper to smooth everything up.
Step 2: PAINT
I painted ONE light coat (meaning I was super light-handed with the brush) of Natural Linen by Glidden in a satin sheen. Because it's so light and on bare wood, it dries SUPER fast, like 10 minutes.
Step 3: STAIN
Next I did a coat of Classic Gray stain by Minwax. I brushed it on with a foam brush, working in small sections at a time then wiped it off with a rag almost immediately, wiping in the direction of the wood grain. I let that dry the recommended 4-6 hours and added a second layer of gray stain.
Step 4: 2nd COLOR STAIN
I thought I would be done after the gray stain because I really wanted a gray look, but I felt like it needed more, so I just started experimenting at this point. Because I wanted to add more depth and color variation I did a layer of Dark Walnut stain by Minwax. Again I applied it in small areas at a time with a foam brush then wiped it off with a clean rag. I let it dry.
Step 5: WHITE WASH
Then it was looking a little more brown then I wanted, so I used somea plain white interior paint and mixed 1 part paint to 1 part water to make it really watered down. I dipped the end of a rag into the paint and applied it (smeared it all along the direction of the grain) a small section of the table at a time. With this part, a little bit of paint goes a LONG way and you really have to almost buff it into the table to create a uniform white wash and not just streaks of white paint. It also dries really fast so you don't want to let this soak in at all- start wiping it all around as soon as you apply it!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOUoIHSxLv7byZLcm7CE5sqXBYarzInbKslFtXYKuS4BS70ovzGHdMLeFA3qglKbY1d-rxPg0wdRj6zoGJcj0dD6WiJ553wu0aqpQ1Kw9-OcU39P9dH0eSqVSfFHzXGPiQcMwkryO4lh6/s640/DSC01398e.jpg)
I found this new brand of poly in the paint section that is a super thick poly where 1 coat equals 3 coats of normal polyurethane. SCORE! I hadn't heard much about it so I knew it would be a little risky to test it out, but it more than paid off! It does go on very thick and sludgy, but it dries in less than 2 hours! I did 2 coats, letting it dry in between each coat, with a bristle brush applying in the direction of the grain.
With a lot of other polys I've used, the satin sheen really does appear to be semi-gloss, but this stuff really IS satin! Not overly shiny in the least. It also self-levels very nicely!
I got the bench from Ikea for $89! It comes unfinished like this:
I wanted the bench to be lighter than the table, but still coordinate with the overall look. I painted it with two coats of pure white interior latex in satin- just some leftover paint I had from something else. Then I did one coat of gray stain, allowing everything to dry between coats.
I wanted the bench to have similar distressing without repeating all of the layers as the table, so I used a Distressed Ink pad (sold at craft stores) and just lightly rubbed it wherever I wanted it to look "distressed".
A little unforeseen issue happened when I applied the triple thick poly after this- it smeared the ink! I guess because the ink isn't paint...or something? It basically re-wet the ink. All in all it ended up being fine because it softened up my distress marks and I actually liked it better. It did add pigment to my poly though, so with dipping the brush back and forth from the can there is now a very light brown color too it. It ended up working out in the end for the bench because I liked the way everything turned out, but now I have half a can of brown tinted poly that I can't use for something that isn't brown in the future! haha. Oh well.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQhNPFiDsSjzsdA-nrOwUyUnWr0qHFnvubjKlFSJp-2jJpBvnfgzOAAc5b3WWBpWr-U2itOF9W0Yf___UlgDS_RoJAsNTAhzca6QYYWHb4pzGRGHF19gto7L8TAfA3oSa38AjK49xBoTU/s640/DSC01400e.jpg)
The best part? All of the materials for the table and bench (excluding the cost of the actual bench) only cost $35!!! And a little goes a LONG way, so if I was keeping my original chairs I would've had more than enough to refinish those as well!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTLBcZuQjasvIf_IuZdhDYBS7tfZgQ-YP1JOgWSe9rS5deoMO_PqOThH-zI5FLzC8U-b7wvSPqvpTjHUYnukqxfdtXRBinz0jv9qJbMzIXa1mv6IWUXE1h-mcIT08GrWg0LazXZoFP06j/s640/DSC01403e.jpg)
Speaking of chairs...*insert giant heart-eyed emoji* cause for REAL I'm in love. I found them on Amazon.
I have one last project (okay technically two...) on this floor and then I'm done and movin' on! You can see a recessed light above the kitchen sink- I'm swapping it out for an industrial looking pendant light. And two, I still have to paint my TV stand (leftover from adding bookshelves to the living room!). And THEN it's onto the master bedroom!
With a lot of other polys I've used, the satin sheen really does appear to be semi-gloss, but this stuff really IS satin! Not overly shiny in the least. It also self-levels very nicely!
I got the bench from Ikea for $89! It comes unfinished like this:
I wanted the bench to be lighter than the table, but still coordinate with the overall look. I painted it with two coats of pure white interior latex in satin- just some leftover paint I had from something else. Then I did one coat of gray stain, allowing everything to dry between coats.
I wanted the bench to have similar distressing without repeating all of the layers as the table, so I used a Distressed Ink pad (sold at craft stores) and just lightly rubbed it wherever I wanted it to look "distressed".
A little unforeseen issue happened when I applied the triple thick poly after this- it smeared the ink! I guess because the ink isn't paint...or something? It basically re-wet the ink. All in all it ended up being fine because it softened up my distress marks and I actually liked it better. It did add pigment to my poly though, so with dipping the brush back and forth from the can there is now a very light brown color too it. It ended up working out in the end for the bench because I liked the way everything turned out, but now I have half a can of brown tinted poly that I can't use for something that isn't brown in the future! haha. Oh well.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQhNPFiDsSjzsdA-nrOwUyUnWr0qHFnvubjKlFSJp-2jJpBvnfgzOAAc5b3WWBpWr-U2itOF9W0Yf___UlgDS_RoJAsNTAhzca6QYYWHb4pzGRGHF19gto7L8TAfA3oSa38AjK49xBoTU/s640/DSC01400e.jpg)
The best part? All of the materials for the table and bench (excluding the cost of the actual bench) only cost $35!!! And a little goes a LONG way, so if I was keeping my original chairs I would've had more than enough to refinish those as well!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTLBcZuQjasvIf_IuZdhDYBS7tfZgQ-YP1JOgWSe9rS5deoMO_PqOThH-zI5FLzC8U-b7wvSPqvpTjHUYnukqxfdtXRBinz0jv9qJbMzIXa1mv6IWUXE1h-mcIT08GrWg0LazXZoFP06j/s640/DSC01403e.jpg)
Speaking of chairs...*insert giant heart-eyed emoji* cause for REAL I'm in love. I found them on Amazon.
It's seriously like a breathe of fresh air!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipyu0s6LgVWPK3U-NrKEtpkKKaAD6U-XK7QMY-jJEvlXtQf36v3ZrQYyY0Cj5VZ7l1Ldd703YNBsbTL1CLMXHDu2qfsR41kxo3hLYkCA7rsBAO9R1xz5k3agcs9CUfkXoBVV4CyGoOHjJ/s1600/PicMonkey+Collage3.jpg)
Unless I think of something else... ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave some love.