Refinishing the Coffee Table

So like I discussed in this post, our coffee table was in sad shape. Someone who will remain unmentioned put a very hot pizza box right on the table, which may or may not have left a very large white "burn" spot on the table. And with 5 years of use, there are just the general scratches and dings all over it.

See??? I wasn't lying (ok, so the major scratches on the lower left was b/c I started sanding before taking the pic...but, still, it's bad!!).

So, it was time to refinish it, and I was excited!! I've never refinished anything before. I have repainted my dresser a few times, but never stained anything. I've always really been into do it yourself projects and home repairs. I went to Lowes to get the necessary stuff, and went to work.

I clearly have a very advanced method of sanding! I couldn't find any sand paper that fit the electrical sander, and I definitely wasn't going BACK to the store, so the manual method worked! And I didn't think about getting a mask, so my sweatshirt worked fine!! And nothing like some gardening gloves to protect my hands!

So after giving it a good sanding, I went to painting. Wow, I look way to focused to just be staining a table!

In no time, the first coat was on! Either the time passed extremely quickly b/c I was having fun, or because of the extremely exciting lecture I was listening to for school on Antimicrobial dilemas/Antibiotic therapies....I'm gonna guess it was the former : ) Luckily, I found a 2-in-1 stain/clear protective coating so that saved me a step which was nice!

After I let it dry the standard "6 hours" (AKA overnight- who has time to do all these steps in one day!?), I then had to "sand" it with a very fine steel wool and wipe away the dust.

Once that was done, I put the second coat on and let it dry for another day (ok, really it was like 3 b/c I had to work!)....poor Jon, didn't have a garage to park his car in b/c our coffee table was blocking his spot!

And finally, after a quick 3rd coat just to the top, it was done!! We are very happy with the results, and it looks great with the new rug we bought!! I really enjoyed the process, so I'm excited to give it a go again...good thing too, b/c I have a dresser sitting in my garage and a wooden high chair sitting in my laundry room waiting to be re-made! (And no, we are not pregnant, I just found the high chair at a thrift store for $3 and the dresser for $10 on freecycle.com and loved them, so who could pass that up!?!?)

The finished result....free of any pizza box stains...for now : ) I'm still working on the picture wall below...one of the picture frames fell off in October (guess we watch our scary movies too loud!). And then one of the shelves fell off last week : ( Can't keep anything up there. So the layout is not quite what I want...but things from other areas of the house keep having to stand in. Anyways, the point is to show the "new" table with our new rug. I'm loving it!

Oh, and for those of you wondering, the cost was only about $18 (primer/stain, paint brush, steel wool). On a PICU nurse salary, that's not too shabby : )