Today, we are taking this solid wood table and restoring it to a clean, natural finish.
In its current state, this table looks good from afar, but it's far from good. The owner tried to stain it dark, but the stain is just sitting on top of the previous finish. It's sticky, and you can see brush marks all over.
After we strip this back, we're going to do some color correction on the wood with a little bleaching and milk paint washing. So, let's get right into it!
Cleaning & Sanding
We are going to start, as always, with some cleaning with Fusion's TSP Alternative.
I got a great tip on one of my other projects about always cleaning before you sand, and the reason for this is that you don't want to push any dirt into the grains of the wood.
After that, I'm going to get right into sanding, which is the majority of the work on this flip. I grabbed an 80-grit pad on my orbital sander and went to town on every flat surface I could find.
There are a few ways to tell if your table is solid wood as opposed to veneer. First, the weight of it; the heavier, the better. That means you have a nice hardwood. You can also look at the bottom, up from below, as well as the sides of the tabletop. If you can see unfinished wood and a natural grain, that's definitely a good sign. Finally, you can look at the top pattern, which I can't see here, but on other tables, you might be able to. Is the wood grain a copy-paste, or is it organic and flowing? Organic and flowing would definitely be better.
There is also a range of quality when it comes to solid wood tabletops. My table does appear to be a cheaper solid wood alternative, as in there are several solid planks laminated together somehow, as opposed to one continuous slab. But that's okay, and given the price that I paid for this, I'm happy.
I am wearing my respirator, goggles, and ear protection to keep me comfortable and safe, and this did take a long time, so make sure you take breaks too.
One alternative to sanding would be stripping, and stripping is when you use a caustic chemical like Citristrip to lift the stain off for you. Stripping may have been an easier route to go, but I don't know that it would have been any less time-consuming. I also prefer to minimize the harsh chemicals I use on my pieces, and I really just wanted a bare, clean wood to work with, so sanding was the route.
Once I ran out of flat surfaces, I did have to do a little bit of hand sanding, which is a much harder workout. I wrapped some 80-grit sandpaper around a sanding sponge and pressed it into the grooves to contour as I sanded.
Bleaching
After a couple of hours, sanding was done and it was time to tone the wood. I'm pretty sure this wood is pine based on how soft it is, and pine is a lovely light wood, but it can also run a little orange like most woods. So, I wanted to try my hand at bleaching wood, which is as simple as it sounds.
I mixed regular household bleach 50/50 with water and brushed it onto every surface, then left the wood to dry in the sun. You can see in the before and after here that it is lightening the wood and also bleaching out any orange tones.
I did two layers of bleach on each surface and left at least an hour after each for the sun to do its job. And once this was done, the wood was definitely less orange, but it was still a little patchy and dull. Also, the tabletop was a bit of a different color as the base. Don't worry, I have a solution for that!
Milk Paint Wash
To even everything out, we're going to do a very light wash with a wood tone milk paint. I am mixing Sea Smoke and Magnolia Pier Milk Paint by Shackteau Interiors.
Normally with milk paint, you mix half powder, half water, but I wanted this to be very light and thin, so I'm going to do something closer to five parts water to one part powder. After mixing thoroughly, I am applying this all over and letting it just absorb into the wood, no wiping back or rubbing or anything like that.
At this ratio, plus the fact that I am applying on bare wood, there is no need to be concerned about chipping or anything like that when the paint dries. I did make sure that the application was as smooth as possible and followed the grain of the wood, and it almost seemed like the milk paint water was getting pulled into the pores of the wood, which is really interesting and actually exactly what I wanted.
I've never tried this before, so I actually left one leg out because I wanted to see what this wash was doing. This is not totally dry yet, but you can see that it's giving the wood a nice aged tone. It's no longer a dull builder-grade 2x4 straight from the lumber yard. It's still natural, but it finally has some character.
I went ahead and applied two coats of this milk paint wash. You can see also that this wash is helping to give the whole table a bit more uniformity, both in smoothing out the surfaces to have a more appealing and subtle texture as well as matching the legs and the base to the top of the table. The whole look is more coherent and purposeful.
I think this bleach and wash combination is a great move for any natural finish project, especially if you're trying to get away from stains or orange colors and if you want something more neutral, especially. You can also experiment with different colors of milk paint. I used something very wood toned, but for example, I'm sure this look would be equally as lovely with a white wash.
Sealing
I am doing my classic combination of water-based poly on top and furniture wax on the bottom. I do this for tables especially because they are a bit more used and abused on top than something like a dresser. I really want that extra protection from spills, so poly is my go-to.
I'm using water-based because it is easier to clean and does not yellow over time. And on this project, I actually stumbled upon a technique that my husband informed me is called rolling and tipping.
I brushed on my first coat carefully, but I wasn't super impressed with the brush marks that it left on after it dried. So, on my next coat, I had the ingenious idea to grab a small foam roller. But I quickly realized that this was creating a bunch of bubbles on the surface, so I ran really quickly to grab my brush and smooth it out. And I discovered that actually the combination is awesome.
The roller helps apply and distribute one big even layer while the brush helps smooth the top surface of that layer for a flawless finish. Now, this is probably not as good as using a paint sprayer, I'm sure, but this turned out much better than expected and will be my new go-to.
Again, I am using furniture wax for the bottom. Furniture wax is a much more natural alternative to polyurethane, which is why I love it. It gives a nice smooth finish. I apply it with a brush, and then I actually normally come around with a lint-free cloth and rub it into the wood, almost like hand lotion, and this gives a really soft touch feel to the wood.
Now, the poly I used on top was a satin finish, and this wax is drying more like a flat finish. This didn't bother me; I actually really liked the very subtle shine to the top. But if you didn't blend in the wax as much, it might give a shinier finish to match the top. Alternatively, you could also grab some flat poly for the top.
And once I let this set overnight, I was ready for the big reveal!
The Reveal
Beautiful. This is such a versatile piece. Wood is truly a beautiful material, and I love when I can make it the star of the show.
Toning down those yellow-orange tones with the bleach and adding some overall character and color back with the milk paint wash gave this table a neutral tone that can fit so many design styles.
Would you have done anything differently? Let me know! I am always open to improving and learning new things.
Thanks for sticking around, and I'll see you next time.