Refinishing My Dining Room Table | Part 1

I’m taking a break from the basement and working on my dining room table. I’ve been wanting to lighten it up ever since we moved into this house. So watch me strip it down and walk you through the DIY process.

In my current house my floors are a dark wood and I never liked how my table blended into the floor. I love my dining room table and I want it to stand out. In my old house I had light wood floors, so I stained my table darker for more contrast. So, now I’m doing the opposite in this house.

This table has so much history for Nate and I. When we got married we were so broke (literally drowning in college debt and poor). I had to get really creative with ways to furnish our home. I found stuff left on the curbs, in dumpsters, thrift shops you name it. I searched all over for cool, free and super cheap stuff.

One of Nate’s old neighbors renovated historical apartments in Minneapolis and had a bunch of old doors in his garage. He knew we were collecting furniture pieces so he was so kind enough to just give us this door. We were so grateful!

Right there and then I knew exactly what it was going to be turned into: a table! So, we made a table out of it …and we never stopped using it. In fact, I don’t think I could ever part with it. It’s a one-of-a-kind and I love it so much!

So, I’m stripping it now to a lighter wood.

Don’t be afraid of stripping wood. It’s really not that hard. It’s just stinky and messy, but really, not that hard. I actually find it relaxing.

You’ll definitely want to be in a well ventilated room or outside. Avoid hot days. The fumes mixed with the heat make it hard. Anything under 80 degrees is better.

Here’s what you need:

• Gloves (I used vinyl gloves)
• Mask
• Paint Scraper
• Paint Brush
• Fast Paint Remover
• Large Plastic Tarp (protect your floor)
• A roll of Paper Towels (you’ll go through the entire roll)
• Garbage Bag (double up so the bag is thicker)
• Really old clothing
• Mineral Spirits (for clean up)
• Sander

You’ll want to read the directions for the paint remover before you begin. Make sure you lay a tarp down under your furniture.

Shake the paint remover really well and apply very generously over your surface. Let it rest for 15 min, then being to scrape it.

I like to scrape in rows right to the edge into my double lined garbage bag (I just used two Target bags). It contains the mess and stays off the floor, so I’m not stepping in it.

I applied the stripper 4 times until the I couldn’t get any more stain up and went through two cans of stripper. It took about three hours total.

Between each application I used the paper towels to wipe down the table of any left over spripper I didn’t pick up from scrapping. Because of the ring design in the door, I had to use more paper towels.

Then I let is dry for a day.

The next day, I used a sander to pick up the rest of the stain that the sripper couldn’t.

I highly recommend this orbital sander by Bosch, it’s light, easy to use and doesn’t leave sanding scrapes on the wood.

This process took about 1.5 hours. Not bad! I used three different grits.

So, here it is now! The next step is to find a natural stain to coordinate with my dining room.

Part 2 I’ll talk about the staining and finishing process.

How do you feel about stripping wood? Does it intimidate you?

Have a great weekend!

XO,

Melessa

P.S. Here’s me in my go-to DIY/Painting shirt!