Refinished Side Table
This blog post contains affiliate links. At no cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you purchase any of these items as a compensation for linking you to them.
Refinished Side Table
I found this side table at my local goodwill, and not knowing exactly what it was meant for, I thought it would be perfect for the nursery. This was actually my first attempt at refinishing furniture, but I thought it would be a fun challenge! After having built and stained items, I thought this wouldn't be much different, but I didn't realize how much MORE sanding was involved with this process considering you're not just preparing unfinished wood, but you are removing a finish! The beauty is, you get to decide how much or how little to sand bare based on where you want a stain finish vs. a paint finish, so there's a lot of creative freedom! You can see video of my full tutorial and decision making process in my Instagram highlight!
This side table started off with a dark stain, glossy finish, and black hardware. There were also several wooden plugs, that were hard to work around with the sanding, so I ended up removing them on the top and later replacing.
I started by removing all of the hardware and saving it and the screws in a ziplock bag. The screws were prone to stripping, so I used a screwdriver vs. a drill to careful remove them. I disassembled as much as possible to expose the surfaces.
I decided to sand the top bare to later finish it wish stain. I used my orbital sander starting with a 60 grit Sand paper and moving up to 220. I attached this to my shop vac, but it comes with a collection bag for the saw dust if you don't have that option.
I opted to paint the legs because I did not want to sand them. Using a degreaser, was all I needed to prep them. Look at what I wiped off! Sealing the paint is the most important step, especially if you don't sand. So I was sure to do that in a later step.
The paint was a Behr Marquee paint sample in "Dark Navy" with a satin finish. I brought a sample of my wallpaper to Home Depot to color match, but this swatch was already a fantastic match! It really modernizes these spindles.
I had started sanding these sides, but decided I wanted to paint them and leave the edges bare. This allowed me to leave the wood plugs in place and not damage them with a full sanding. I used my favorite angled brush to cut in where the painted surface meets the unpainted. You could use painter's tape to be. extra careful.
I covered all of the paint surfaces with a coat of Polycrylic. It is very thin, so use a light coat or else it will run everywhere. This will protect the paint from chipping. You can choose a matte or glossy finish.
I then applied Rub n' Buff in gold leaf to all of the hardware including the screw tops and the wooden plugs. If the hardware was pulls that would be touched often, I would consider a different product because this is a wax that could eventually rub off. However, it was perfect here and I used it throughout the nursery in different places. Wear gloves and ventilate for application.
This wood had a lot of red tones, so I had to play with the stain. I ended up mixing a custom color of 1 part Bourbon, 2 parts Super White, and 1 part Accelerator. I spread it on with a flexible spreader and after 5 minutes, wiped it off with a rag. Let the rag dry fully before throwing away.
I reattached all the gold hardware, and for the wooden plugs, I used liquid nails to attach.
Somewhere along the way, one of my instagram followers let me know, this style of table was a called dough box! To pay tribute to it's roots, see below for how I'm using it in the nursery!
