Oak Sideboard

This cute piece was purchased at my favorite thrift shop. It's made by Lane Furniture~solid oak and sturdy, but showing signs of wear on the top. 

Since it was such nice wood, I decided I wanted to keep the table top wood exposed.  I sanded it down really well on the top with my sander using 80 grit to get all the finish off.   Then I went to a 120 grit to 220 until it was nice and smooth.  Of course I also sanded the bottom part, too, but I wasn't concerned about getting the finish off.  I used the 80 grit there and 120 grit anywhere I had to sand by hand. 

I primed with two coats of Kilz Clean Start that has no VOC ~ Did I mention I can be a bit sloppy?

I did a light sanding after the primer dried, but unlike the oil-based primers I've used, not much stuff came off - it made me wonder if I even needed to sand at this point.

Next I stained the top of the table with Minwax stain in Dark Walnut.

It was here that things got a bit ugly.  After I put on a second coat of stain, it just looked, well, crappy.  Blotchy.  So I sanded as much off as I could and tried it again.  Same outcome.   Enter change of plans.  I decided that this table was going to have a weathered looking top.  :)  I sanded one last time to try to even it out as much as possible and called it good.  Next time I think I'll use a wood conditioner before staining. 

Now it was time for two coats of Behr Ultra Powdered Snow on the bottom portion of the table.

This paint is pretty thick - sometimes I just add a little water.  I usually roll the paint on with a mini high density roller when I can, and then brush on the other areas. 

Usually at this point I use my RL glaze, but I have been wanting to try a minwax stain to antique instead.  When Miss Mustand gave her tutorial here, I knew I had to try it!

I pulled out the same Dark Walnut stain again.  I just used a cloth, dipped it into the stain and rubbed it directly onto the piece.  I'm sure a sponge brush would work awesome, too, and would get into the nooks and crannies better, but I didn't have one handy.  I followed Miss Mustard's directions, especially about making sure no visible lines are left from the stain. 

I REALLY liked this method.  For me it wasn't as messy as the glaze, but I know some people swear by the glaze.  I will definitely do it this way with the stain again! 

I loved the little original pulls and was for sure going to reuse them.  They were a bit too gold for me, so I primed and then sprayed them with Rustoleum hammered brown spray paint.

Quite nice!

For the table top finish, I applied two coats of Minwax Wipe On Poly.  This stuff works great because there are no brush marks.

O.K., this is how it turned out!

The "weathered" A.K.A  "I give up" top!

Cute hammered brown pulls

All ready to go!