How to Stain and Strip a Table

A few weeks ago, Kevin's parents were kind enough to give us their old kitchen table for our new place.  I started brainstorming some ideas of what we can do with the table and finally settled on staining it a dark color and pairing it with white, fabric or leather chairs.  Here's what it looked like before-  a light color wood with great metal detailing on the feet. 

After some research, a Martha Stewart tutorial, and a chat with some nice Home Depot employees, I was ready to start my new project.  Since the table is solid wood on the bottom and vinyl on the table top (so they could set hot items on the table), I needed to purchase stripper for the table top.  You can use a can of stripper for larger projects, or spray stripper for smaller projects. 

Stripper is really intense, so make sure to wear gloves, goggles (in my case, sunglasses), and to use it in a well ventilated area.  Also be sure to use special plastic stripping tools and a metal container to dispose of the stripped material.  Whatever you do, don't let it touch your skin!  I got a tiny bit on my arm and had to scrub my arm with soap under cold water to stop the burning.  Very. Intense.

Stripping supplies, minus the scraper tools and wire brush tool

Step one is to spray on by hand, or paint on the stripper with a paint brush. You only have to let it set for 10-15 minutes before it starts to work.  Then, scrape off the stripper using the plastic scraper tools.  Next, wipe off the surface with a towel and let dry.  Then use a wire brush to scrape off the remaining reside.  Step five is to sand the area, then wipe with a wet towel and let dry. 

Spray on, or paint on the stripper

After you complete the stripping process, you are ready to start applying the stain.  With the help of the awesome ladies at Home Depot, I chose a stain that also contained polyurethane.  This ended up saving me a step!  I used "MINWAX PolyShade" in the "Honey Gloss" color.

Apply your first coat and let it set at least eight hours.  Since I was working on this project after work, I just let it set overnight.  On day two, apply your second coat and let it set another night.

Ta Da!!

Step two was to paint the side of the table top.  Since it was solid wood, I didn't have to strip it.  Instead, I just sanded it and then painted two coats.  I also let it dry a night in between each coat.  Next, it was time to stain the bottom of the table.  To gain easier access to the bottom of the table, we unscrewed the top and set it aside.  Then I sanded the table bottom.  

Next, I followed the same steps I did for the top of the table and painted two coats on the bottom of the table, while letting it dry overnight between each coat.

After painting two coats, I used a toothbrush to apply stripper to the metal parts of the table bottom.  Then, I scrubbed all of the edges of the metal with the toothbrush to remove the remaining residue.  Here's the finished table bottom:

Then I screwed the top of the table back onto the bottom of the table, and here's the finished product!

A Day in Ann Arbor - Sawyer & the Nichols Arboretum

This Sunday Kevin thought it would be a great idea to spend the day in Ann Arbor at the arboretum and to go downtown for lunch.  I had great memories of spending time with the pups at the arboretum in Tuscaloosa while I was in college, so I thought it would be a great idea to borrow Katie's dog Sawyer for the day. (We would have brought Callie too, but she is currently recovering from leg surgery.  Sorry Callie!)

Kevin made sure to double check the Nichols Arboretum website to confirm they allow dogs, and I got the OK from Katie to pick up Sawyer, so we were ready for a day of fun in Ann Arbor! 

Let's go, I call shotgun!

The arboretum is located in the middle of a neighborhood very close to campus, so we found a parking spot in the neighborhood and walked into the Geddes entrance to the arboretum.  First, of course, we had to stop and take some pictures with Sawyer.

Parking Map

 

Once inside the gate, there is a map at the entrance that shows you the different paths you can take.  This Web page explains the three entrances and what to do if you get lost:  Nichols Arboretum.

We took a stroll up the path and made our way to the river.  It was the weekend of graduation and all of the students were moving out for the summer, so there were lots of families taking strolls through the gardens and taking pictures in front of the river.  Needless to say, Sawyer received lots of attention.  He did very well with all of the other dogs and groups of people, we were very proud of him!  A few times throughout our walk Sawyer looked pretty tuckered out, so we made sure to give him plenty of water out of our camelback.  Wish I would have gotten that on video, it was pretty funny. Then, back at the car, he drank two bottles of water.  Poor pup, he's more of a "city" dog and enjoys his light strolls through Royal Oak. 

Making our way around the river

Sawyer, Sit

Sawyer, Lay Down

Great view of the river

Sunday Funday

Sawyer loves the camera

Pretty flowers!

After spending a while at the arboretum we were ready for lunch.  We had the bright idea of taking Sawyer for a walk downtown and grabbing some lunch at one of the tables on the sidewalk at one of the many restaurants, but soon realized that that was not going to happen.  Sawyer was just too friendly and wanted to "say hello" to everyone eating at tables along the sidewalk, no matter if they wanted to "say hello" back.  So, instead we rode over to Blimpy Burger and ate our to-go burgers on the sidewalk while Sawyer enjoyed a nice stick. 

After that we headed back home while Sawyer had a nice, long nap in the backseat.  Once back at the house, Kevin and I enjoyed a nice, long nap in the hammock.  It was a pretty great Sunday Funday!