Refinished Cottage Style Sofa Table

2 Materials
$20
4 Days
Easy


I love finding a beautiful piece a furniture that needs some TLC.


Refinishing furniture to me is such a relaxing thing to do. Study it, ask for advice from friends and family, then add your own type of magic to the piece.


Have you all seen the picture on Facebook of the corgi in the car?


OMG... Is someone going to throw that out? I can paint it and make it beautiful again?


Well, that's what I did. I stopped the car, looked around and in my high heels I picked up this piece (80+ lbs) and put it in my car.


I then proceeded to call my mom and give her a good laugh at what I did.

Part 1: Prep work is key


As you can see in the picture, it has some slight issues, water stains, and peeling poly.


My grandfather reminded me that prep work is key. Make sure you do a good work in the beginning and the rest will work out better.


I first started out with trying to strip the top with a can of stripper and some steel wool. Therapy time? Yes.


A friend asked if I wanted him to come over with his sanding machine and take the top finish off? He refinishes wood flooring, so I said when can you come over? 10 minutes was his reply. Perfect!!


He helped with the majority of the process in 5 minutes. Yes, have the right tools is key. My little mouse sander and I would have been doing this for a much longer time. Thankful for making good friends in my neighborhood! Reminder, make him cookies as a Thank You!


Part 2: Take your time


Once everything was sanded down, it saw much more damage, a cup ring, the water stain and another small item that needed attention.


I started doing some research on how to remove water stains... Bleach? my grandfather suggested trying to wet a rag and use the steam from iron? None of these suggested worked. Did it help? Yes! it was all therapy time, put some good music on, and focus on the subject at hand



Part 3: Inspiration


Everywhere I looked, I saw restained tops and everything else painted. Which is what I didn't want to do. The top was the only thing that needed to be refinished, everything else was in perfect condition.  I found inspiration on Pinterest (of course) it was a buffet paint black and had the wood drawers left natural.


I resanded the top until it felt smooth, wiped it down and removed all the dust. I had some Fusion Mineral Paint in Coal Black that I recently used on all my downstairs interior doors. It gave the house such a classy look. Which is what I was looking for.

Can I tell you how much I now love this piece? The black top brings out the grain on the wood.


What's great is that with , it has a top coat built in.. so no waxing is needed. It needs to cure and then it's set!

Resources for this project:
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Lori O'Farrill
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  2 questions
  • Classic Rock Classic Rock on Nov 28, 2018

    what did you use on the rest of the sofa table? Any type of stain?

  • Dee Heller Dee Heller on Aug 01, 2020

    Hi Lori, I have the exact table and want to paint the part you left stained a dark teal on the green side. The top and drawer fronts will be either copper metalic or aqua. Do I have to sand everything or only the top? I want to start the real part soon, if I go with the metalic top have to order the pain and wait for it. If I go with the aqua will spray paint I think did one drawer front with aqua front and the teal around the edge. Looks good but wat to see the other in copper before I finish. Thanks for any help.

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