French Provencial Coffee Table

A while back, I agreed to refinish this dining table and chairs for a lady I've done a few pieces for. 

I've never refinished a table set, so I have been relentlessly bugging seeking advice from darling Christa over at Stories of a House. This girl is a true professional, people!  She has helped me so much, and has offered alot of advice.  *Much of the information in this post comes from Christa, who just happens to be in the process of writing an e-book about furniture refinishing.*  If you want a copy, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to get in line behind ME!!!  :)

Anyways, I thought I'd better practice on something before tackling the real table set, and I thought this coffee table that has just been sitting in my garage would be perfect!

After sanding and priming the base, I painted it with my new Sherwin-Williams "Creamy" (Miss Mustard's favorite color).  I got it in their low or 0 VOC line.  It's kinda spendy, but my brother is a home builder, and the painter he uses~ that would be Larry~ has an account at SW, so I got Larry's discount!  Score!

After some distressing, I applied Minwax Dark Walnut stain to give it a lovely antiqued look.  I just brushed it on with a spongebrush and then wiped most of it off with a cloth.

I finished the base with a coat of Minwax Paste Finishing Wax.  I usually use a cloth, but I this time I used cheescloth.  It worked great! 

WARNING~ when stain is used over paint, it takes quite a while to stick really well.  I only waited overnight to apply the wax over the stain.  Lots of the stain came off when I wiped on the wax.  The stain stayed in all the little nooks, crannies and grooves, but on the flat surfaces alot was wiped away.  I really liked it that way, but if I had wanted more of the stain to remain, a spray-on polycrylic would have worked great for a protectant, or I suppose giving it more time to dry might do the trick, too!

Next it was time for the serious work~stripping the top. At the risk of sounding like a complete ding dong, I'll admit I thought people used stripper because they were just too lazy to sand.  Well, it turns out that stripping the top of a piece that is going to be stained prevents the wood grain from being ruined, as sanding would do.   I used CitriStrip because it is less toxic than some of the other paint strippers

After I had scraped and cleaned off all the varnish, I lightly sanded the top with 220 grit sandpaper.

Next it was time to stain.  I used these staining pads to wipe on two coats of stain instead of a cloth.  They worked really well!

After the stain dried, I used a new favorite suggested by Christa~ Formby's Tung Oil. 

I wiped on two coats with a cloth, allowing plenty of time to dry between each coat. 

For a little extra shine, I used this wax again for the final topcoat~

Here is another look at the before~

Here's the after~

The actual table set will premeire in Spring 2011!  (When my spray gun comes out of hibernation) Stay tuned...  :)