DIY Refinished Dining Table Top

Lets just take a moment to think about all that your dining room or kitchen table has done for you over the years…from chowing down some Chinese eating on it, to making Christmas cookies, to discussing what college your kids will attend…it’s been through a lot.  At least ours has.   Welcome to our DIY Refinished Dining Table Top tutorial!

Boy if that table could talk, I bet it would tell some pretty wild, sad, and funny stories.  Unfortunately, it’s beginning to show it’s age, but look at it now…

Here’s the dining table top before…

This next one makes my kitchen feel dirty…yuck.

Guess all those tablescapes have really taken their toll.

Here’s Sylvia the kitty’s paw marks…

Here’s where I do a lot of my projects…

You get the idea. For a while I tried to just say, “It shows we have a history, and all those marks mean something.”  Blah blah blah.  Forget that.  I want a table like this.

Oh yeah.  Now we’re talkin’…

Look at those beautiful wood tones.

I feel like I could actually ice skate on this thing.

Shiny or what?

By the way…this won’t scratch up easily now.  See our DIY Refinished Table Top tutorial below…

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First of all.  We had no idea if the table was even wood.  We assumed it was wood, it looked like wood underneath, but who knows these days.  We bought this table about 8 years ago from a furniture store here in Michigan.  I liked it because it had a rustic appearance with the indentations on the top and she has beautiful legs.  I figured it would take a beating and still look great.  It did for a while until the light wood underneath would show through the nicks and scratches.  We took a risk here, but we figured if it wasn’t wood we could always paint it instead.

Okay here we go…

First, we got it out into garage which was an absolute nightmare.  We didn’t take off the legs because we thought one of the screws was stripped.  This thing is huge and very very heavy.

Then my husband applied this non toxic stripper being careful not to get it on the legs.  The directions are on the bottle.  It didn’t take long to apply, and it actually smells like oranges. (always ventilate!)

He then scraped off the stripper with a putty knife and this is what it looked like after a lot of scraping.

Next, he used an electric sander to remove the remaining old stain gook.  You will need very coarse sand paper and to wear a mask for this.

This is what it looked like after he sanded it.

I nearly fell of my rocker when I saw it.

Lastly, it was time for the stain and the polyurethane.

I missed getting a photo of the staining, but he used a rag…always apply stain with a rag and when finished dispose of it properly because it can combust and cause a fire.  He applied 1 coat of Minwax Wood Finish Stain in Red Mahogany which is my go-to stain for everything.  Our kitchen island is also done this way.  In fact, the island is done EXACTLY THIS WAY.  See island HERE.

He used a really strong polyurethane that bar keepers use on bars…it’s called Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane.  This stuff is amazing.  It works way better than any other polyurethane we have used.  He put on 3 coats and let them dry for 12-24 hours in between each coat.  He also lightly hand sanded in between each coat with 150 grit sand paper.  He used tact cloth to remove the dust before the next coat.  Don’t skip that step!  We used card tables to eat on for a week.  If you need a brush, here’s my favorite one.

This table makeover is one of our best projects to date.  It is absolutely gorgeous and I feel like our kitchen is cleaner.  Go figure?

Here’s the guy that got it done.  He turns 50 this week.  I love him like crazy.

Let me know if you have questions…

Please pin this for me 🙂