Renewed Dining Table

Red's Rustic Rehab
by Red's Rustic Rehab
6 Materials
$150
3 Days
Easy

I received this product as a gift from Home Talk but all opinions in this tutorial are my own. Retique It. Okay. This stuff is legit! It’s real wood paint, you basically use it like chalk paint, very little prep is needed, but still obviously clean your item, it’s not magic... lol. A little history, this table isn’t a special piece to me, it’s a yard sale find that I planned to rehab years ago and was always intimidated by it because it has a wood veneer on it, that is damaged in all ways, scuffed, scratched, warp and bubbled. You name it this table has it. Enter, Retique it! Life. Saver. Without a doubt! Here the process!

Gather supplies!


  • Mineral Spirits/Denatured Alcohol and old rag
  • Retique IT wood paint
  • Paint brushes, I really like Wooster shortcuts angled brush, but use what feels best for you, I know if you buy the Retique it kit, it comes with brushes!
  • Wood graining tools, also comes with the kit, but I purchased separately, I will supply link below for the ones I used
  • Stain of choice, the can recommended a non penetrating stain.
  • Something to seal it with! I used what was recommended on the back of my stain can
  • painters tape
Real life problems...


I can never ever find a paint can opener or a flat head screw driver when i need one... so I resorted to the wine opener, which worked exceptionally well BTW! Also, plastic knifes work well to stir small paint cans! HA!


This paint can make any project look like wood, you can pretty much paint anything with it then stain it! I'm so intrigued! Its a real wood paint that will adhere to just about anything, double check the can if you have any questions as to what. I have a friend that used this product to paint the mirror in the back of her china cabinet and it legit looks like she replaced the mirror with wood. Incredible!


You can either buy the whole kit that comes with the wood paint, stain, brushes, and the wood graining tool, or buy/use what you have. I only received the wood paint, but that's okay, because guess what!? YOU CAN USE ANY STAIN YOU LIKE! That's right, they even tell you right on the can, stain in any brand you like! I'm so sold!! I love this fact about this product!

The tragic beginning!


Take before photos, always! I often get so excited about the process that I forget my before photos and I'm so upset with myself after! This is the mess I started with, stains and scratches everywhere! This table has a wood veneer that also has bubbles in some areas, those didn't photograph well until the progress started, see later photos for that!

This photo is after I cleaned it up with a good soap and water scrub and also the mineral spirits, make sure to follow the directions on the Retique It can for this part, you want to make sure you are removing any wax/cleaning product residue so that the wood paint can really adhere to the surface.

Paint the first coat!


What a difference already! Paint goes on pretty thick, make sure to keep your brush strokes nice and even and don't paint it on too thick, its always better to do multiple even, thin coats and coat until covered than to gob it on too thick and risk uneven drying!


The can states you can use one coat for a light wood grain, or 2 coats of wood paint and use the graining tool for a more distinct grain. I'm doing the latter. I wanted a full coverage look for this beat up beauty!

The damage is evident


Here you go, these are the bubbles in the veneer... I'm sure there is a way to fix this, but honestly, we won't have this table forever and we use it every single night and having minor imperfections like this doesn't bother me.... if anything it makes me less anxious about any new damage that will inevitably happen.... but spoiler alert, they are much less obvious after the whole process is complete!

Two thin coats applied


I worked in halves for this whole project, so once I got the 2nd coat on the first half I reached for the graining tool, this is what we were looking like after 2 coats, you can hardly see any of the previous stain or damage through 2 coats! I was very impressed!

Grain it!


I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about this tool. The one I got (failed to get a photo of the set, sorry about that! I get too excited sometimes and get forgetful!) came with a roller and a rounded tool with a handle that you more or less drag across in a rolling fashion to give the grain. It took 2 tries with it to get the look I wanted! But to have never used these before, I was pretty stoked that it was so easy to use! There are a ton of videos on YouTube on how to use this tool with this product an others as well! Definitely check those out before painting on the 2nd coat, its what I did to occupy the dry time between coats of wood paint!

Stain it!


Apply stain like you would on any other prepared wood project! I painted it on with a good quality foam brush, let it set for a little while, then wiped away the excess stain with a lint free cloth. Let dry according to the label and reapply as you feel needed to achieve your desired color, the photo above is of just one coat! I lived with it for a day before adding another round of stain, but finally decided I wanted a slightly richer color so added an additional coat!

2nd coat


After the second coat, much richer, slightly darker color, I was much happier with it! The color is Brier Smoke and its my FAVORITE!

Seal as instructed on what ever you choose to seal it with, I did 3 coats of poly!

Enjoy the result!


I debated for a good bit if I wanted to keep the base black or paint it, I opted to keep it for now, its easy to keep clean and is a nice contrast to my all white kitchen, but I eventually may change/touch up the base. What would you do, if anything? Leave me a comment below and share your thoughts!

The chairs.... Just as tragic!


This is the chair seat at the start, I blame jeans for all this damage, just another reason I love my leggings! LOL didn't take as many photos of the chair process, because its the same as the table, but I had to get a good before, because I mean, just look at that mess!

Tape it off!


What a pain.... this took FOREVER! But, obviously needed to happen. I also taped around the legs even though they don't touch anywhere that the paint needed to go, just because I'm kind of a messy human... hehe!

After!


This is after 2 coats of wood paint and 2 coats of stain, I didn't use the graining tool because the seat isn't flat and I just couldn't get it to work, but honestly, it still has a "grain" look to it!


I highly recommend this product! It was so much easier to use than using a stripper, or sanding (which you can't do with veneer!) I wouldn't say its in any way a quicker option, due to the coats and dry time needed in between, but ease of use and lack of chemicals needed won me over!

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 3 comments
  • Aimee Aimee on Jun 28, 2020

    What an amazing transformation! So happy that you like the product.

  • Megan Megan on Jun 29, 2020

    I have the EXACT same table and chairs and having been brainstorming how I was going to refinish them. Now I know! Thanks 😊

    • Red's Rustic Rehab Red's Rustic Rehab on Jun 30, 2020

      How funny! I was stumped for a long time too! Have fun with it! The wood grain tool was so neat!

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