Old Family Table Redux!

Alicia Gillentine Carr
by Alicia Gillentine Carr
This old table has been in my family for ages (I don't even know how long). I know that my stepfather ate from this table as a child, then it sat in storage, then it was used at my mom's house for a long time before going back into storage and eventually to me. That we know of, this is the first refinish it's been through. We've been using it as our kitchen table for about 6 years. It has hidden leaves that pop up when pulled out (and those leaves are a mess of water stains). Fully extended it can seat 10 to 12 people, closed up it seats 4.
Before
After
Fully extended, during sanding. You can see how badly stained the leaves were.
First coat of stain.
I used liquid sander on the accent groove and applied the first coat of sealer. All in all I used four coats.
Leg Before (there are 5 legs)
Leg during liquid sand
The table legs would have been a lot of work to refinish to the natural wood (more work than I was up to) so I took a lot of deep breaths as I painted with chalk paint.
Sanded for a distressed look.
Added a silver glaze
All the pieces are back together and the project is complete!
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  • Phy106002 Phy106002 on Jun 12, 2014
    I have a table like that it is 6 ft. long looks like it has something to make it longer or shorter. I cannot figure how to do it would like it shorter It is too big for my kitchen. My husband loves it and it is beautiful you done a good job
    • Denise M Denise M on Jun 12, 2014
      @ Usually old tables pull apart (have someone on each end to pull their end) and extend the table so that extra leaves (boards) can be inserted.
  • Denise M Denise M on Jun 12, 2014
    You gave this old beauty some character! Looks great!
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