Friday, August 1, 2008

Refurbished -meh to Modern!

For a while, I've wanted a new kitchen table. However, the fundage has not been available to purchase a new one. So, following a friends lead, we decided to just refurbish the one we had. Plus we found $50 at IKEA on the floor! (don't worry we tried to be honest and asked all the people around us if they lost money and nobody claimed it!)


Our table...BEFORE

We didn't really know where to start or how to do it, so we took one leg off a chair and headed to Home Depot on Friday afternoon. Once there, we found a very nice, old man who assisted us. He explained the products we would need and the steps to take to re-do our table & chairs. We purchased the goods and headed home to begin!

First step was stripping! Wohoo... the old varnish and such that is...so we took everything apart and set up shop in our carport so as to have sufficient ventilation. It took us a while and we got a few chemical burns in the process but a few hours later (at least 4!), the stripping was done. After stripping we "washed" the pieces with an after-wash suggested by the worker at Home Depot. By this time, it was dark and late and so we packed up shop and called it a night.


Jar taking stuff apart.


Jar working on strippin'


Me working on strippin' in the dark


Strippin' done!

Second step was varnishing...so we awoke Saturday morning, hit up the local Farmer's Market and then returned home to work on our project again (this time in our kitchen because it was about 100 degrees outside!). Jar decided to go golfing with a buddy so I started working solo and gave all the pieces a light sanding so they were smooth and ready to roll when Jar got home. While he was gone, I found one of Jar's old t-shirts and cut it up to make rags to varnish with. After he got home, we started in and Jar wasn't sure about the color. We had chosen Ebony as the color, which Jar originally thought was a dark brown but soon realized that it was an almost black color. Anyway...one coat done and time to wait 4-6 hours for coat #2.


Coat #1


All the pieces covering our kitchen floor! (don't worry, windows were open and the stink is pretty much gone now!)

While we were waiting for it to dry, we decided to hit up Jo-Ann's Fabric to get new fabric to re-upholster the cushions. The first Jo-Ann's didn't have much selection so we went to the biggest Jo-Ann's I knew of and we struck gold! A huge section of upholstery fabric! After looking at many swatches and comparing we decided on one and got it cut. Luckily I had a sweet coupon so we got off cheap!


The cushion before.

Time for coat #2. Sunday after returning from church, we applied coat #2 on one side of everything and it was looking very good! But when it came time to do the second side, we decided we better do it with everything put back together so we didn't get any funny patterns or marks on the other side from the plastic drop cloth it was sitting on. So we put it all together and finished coat #2 then had to wait overnight to continue.


Jar doing coat #2


The chairs after coat #2.

Third step- polyurethane! We didn't get this done until Tuesday but it also took two coats which pushed us into Wednesday. But we were doing it! Our project was turning out much better than anticipated! We only spilled about 1/3 of the can of polyurethane and ruined 5 foam brushes but we got it done! Table & chairs were done...and it looks amazing!!!

Fourth step- finishing the cushions. I cut the fabric, and Jar assisted with the staple gun. This was probably the easiest step and went very quickly. After all four cushions were complete we re-attached them to the chairs and....


Jar using his manliness to staple the cushions.


Can you tell I'm excited about the cushions!


re-attaching cushions...

VOILA!!! Our project was complete! Although not completely perfect, it looks rather good for a do-it-yourself home project!


The chair is done!


The table is complete!

And in the end...

Supplies from Home Depot: ~$70
Fabric from Jo-Ann's: ~$30
6 Days of our Lives...alot of time
10+ Chemical burns...alot of pain
BUT...
A new table & chairs... PRICELESS!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I freaking love it! I am totally impressed. Will you come do mine now? My table is so white trash, I definetely want a new one, but if you can make it look like yours I would love it!:) You guys need to come down and you can take Bry anytime, just give me a holla! Love you guys!

Kern County Kids Read said...

Way to go! It looks fantastic! All I refinished was our two nightstands and that was a big enough project! Also super impressed you did this inside your apartment!

J said...

you are so brave! it seems like such a big project, but it looks fabulous! for vessel's one year birthday, mike and i decided to strip and repaint an old baby rocking chair and footstool. it was so small, but it took forever!
you are seriously the martha stewart of arbor lane and jarad is the guy from the new yankee workshop. well done guys!

A Guy,A Girl, And a Max said...

WOW that turned out REALLY nice! You guys are so creative!!D I think we should do that to our furniture!!

Janna said...

WOW! I am SO hecka impressed! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! LOVE YOU GUYS! Can't wait to sit my butt in those chairs :)

Britt said...

Nicely done Ash! You should celebrate by throwing a dinner party! I have this grotesque orange desk that I think has potential that I've been meaning to do something with since Ben and I got married. That was SIX YEARS AGO! I admire your dedication to beginning the project and finishing it. You are inspiring me to work on my furniture now... well, except your mentioning the chemical burn thing kind of turned me off. Oh well, maybe one day!

Maura said...

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! Your table is amazing...

geri said...

Do you rent out?? That is amazing. I want to refinish our table, but I don't know if I'm that ambitious! You're awesome!!

Melissa Tupou said...

They look great! Can you do mine next?

Josie said...

Yea, I agree, you wanna do mine next? Seriously they look amazing! I have always wanted to do that with my butt ug table but have never wanted to put that much time into it and did not know what to do... but now I know, but still might spend a lot of money for a new one cause 2 of the 4 chairs are broken...hmmm
They look spectacular!