I'm so excited to share this dining with you today! I'm always amazed at the ideas my clients have, and this one just rocked my socks!
It started out as a white farmhouse style table; a white bottom and stained wood top.
To start out, the top needed to be completely stripped and sanded. The best stripper in my opinion is CitriStrip. It works so well! Just brush on the stripper, let it sit until it looks all gooey and bubbly. (Yes- those are official terms on the bottle...okay maybe not, but it will make sense when you see it.) Then scrape it all off, wipe it down and let it dry out. Once the wood is all dry, I grabbed the orbital sander with 220 grit and lightly sanded away. I once made the mistake of pushing too hard when sanding the dining table top... It went through the thin veneer, and I was left with a not so perfect top. That was a pain. So just be gentle, or sand it by hand.
Once all of the old finish was off, I moved to the apron and legs of the table. I lightly sanded the old white finish and wiped it down. Then I grabbed my roll of painter's tape and taped the edge of the table top, all the way around. I didn't want any of the gold paint to get on my fresh new table top! (You could also just paint the base before you strip the top, but then you may run into the stripper dripping onto your fresh coat of paint.)
With the edges taped off and a few broken down cardboard boxes laying on the top of the table (I really didn't want to get any paint on my fresh clean table top), I painted the apron and legs of the table in Rustoleum's Bright Coat Metallic Gold. This paint has stuck so well to all of the pieces I have ever used it on. It is amazing! The apron and legs took two full coats, and then one extra touch up coat in a few places. It dried super fast in between coats, but I let it dry for at least 4 hours before I started the antiquing glaze.
For the antiquing glaze I mixed Ralph Lauren Faux Technique Glaze with General Finishes Java Gel Stain until it was the deep rich color I wanted. For this project I only needed half of a cup of the tinted glaze. With latex gloves and old t-shirt scraps as my rags, I wiped the dark glaze on, let it start to dry for a few seconds in this Arizona heat, then wiped it off with a clean rag. We wanted to get it dark, but still show the beautiful gold underneath. When wiping on and off I tried to keep the glaze in uniform long strokes. I also left more glaze in the cracks of the details than on the raised and flat places. I let the glaze dry for a few days so the top coat wouldn't ruin all of my hard work.
While the glaze dried, I stained the table top with two coats of Java Gel Stain with at least 8 hours of dry time between each coat. This stain is thicker than normal stain, but I used the same concept. Wipe the stain on with the grain, let it sit for a few minutes, and then wipe the stain off (with a clean rag) going with the grain. I love the richness of Java Gel Stain! For stained table tops I always finish off with at least 3 coats of Minwax's Wipe On Polyurethane in Satin finish. This table was no different as it adds an extra richness to stained wood. Since it is oil based, I never use it on white paint since it will add a yellow tone to the paint. But since we were working with gold paint, I also used the Wipe On Poly for the apron and legs.
This table was such a fun project! I love how creative my client is. She has a candle in her home on a dark brown candlestick that was her inspiration for the dining table. I would have never thought of this finish, but now that I have done it, I sure can't get enough of it!
Where do you find your inspiration? I would love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful week friends!
