I can finally say that I have completed our first project for our new home! I must say, I’m glad it is DONE. On the other hand, I did learn a few things.
1. Do not obsess over it being perfect. If you do this the project will NEVER be finished.
2. I don’t know how to use polyurethane. My first attempt looked HORRIBLE. streak lines everywhere and my table turned yellow. I consulted google and a professional painter, neither gave any wisdom that fixed my problem. So, I decided to sand the table down and basically start over. This obviously upset my husband. I was, after all, taking up valuable garage space storing this thing. This time I tried the spray clear coats, and after using 5 cans and two different kinds decided they would not give the kind of protection this table needs from my 3yr old and 19 month old. I finally went back to the polyurethane, but this time I used an old rag to apply it. I did several VERY THIN coats (these were on top of the coats from the spray sealers) an achieved a strong protective coat without streaks or too much yellowing.
Here is a before picture:
I started with a table I found at a nearby garage sale. Layers of primer, paint, spray sealer, and polyurethane later…
This is what it looks like now:
I sanded some of the edges and wanted to antique the grooves in the base and more of the edges, but my husband was itching to get it out of the garage so it will have to wait. Despite the pain of my first real furniture painting project, I am happy with the result. There will still be a next time, and I think/hope those go smoother.






















