Faux Wood Stain Table

Nadine
by Nadine
3 Materials
$20
5 Hours
Easy
My neighbor/second mom asked me to refinish her end table. I thought the table was wood underneath the paint. The table was not wood. So here is how I achieved a faux wood finish.


Table Before
Unnecessary Stripping
I put Citristrip all over the table and started to strip it and then realize the table was not wood (yep - I could have save myself a lot of work by lightly sanding and priming instead).
Base Color
Painted the table using a color lighter than the wood tone I was trying to achieve( Find a stain that you like and pick the lightest color you see in the stain as your base coat). In my case, I had some left over pumpkin color paint and used that as the base coat & then lightly sanded it
Table After
Next I applied General Finish Gel stain in Hickory ( I had that on hand). The stain gel is very easy to work with. I put it on using a combination of paint brush and sponge brush. I brushed it horizontal and vertical and kept on doing it until I achieved the look I wanted.  Then I let it dry completely and touched it up where needed. I painted the top and bottom borders in black and finished with a polyurethane in gloss for sheen and protection.
Suggested materials:
  • Paints - Pumpkin color & Black   (Had it)
  • General Finish Gel Stain in Hickory   (Had it)
  • Poyurethane in Gloss   (Had it)
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 2 comments
  • William William on Jun 27, 2017

    Looks great! Like real wood. I used gel stain years ago (and still do) to wood grain cheaper wood to look like expensive wood. Could be used on anything. Great job.

  • Wendy Wendy on Jun 28, 2017

    Wow, hard to believe that ISNT wood! Beautiful!

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