Number Fifty-Three: Antique Refinished Dining Room Table

Oh, my everchanging house!

Last November I refinished a pine table and put it in the dining room. I was really pleased with how it turned out, but knew it wasn't the forever table. The forever table was the one that I had moved out to make way for the newly finished one.

The backstory is that I've had the table for several years. It dates back to over 230 years ago (imagine the history!) However, it had an extremely glossy mahogany stain that I sensed wasn't original to the piece (it was kind of messy/drippy on the sides). I hated the finish on this table. This picture from a past holiday tour literally haunts me.

Of course, the question is do you refinish or paint an antique. I agonized over it and ultimately decided I would make it over. My reasoning is that I have no proof of its age and it is doing no good sitting in my garage. Also, I decided I wasn't going to paint it, I didn't want to hide all the wear from years of use--those gauges and dings were the history I loved.

Anyway, I worked on this table for the better part of six months, when I had the time and motivation. I sanded the entire table, even the underneath of the leaves in the event, that some day, I might display it closed.

The turned legs nearly killed me. And because of the type of table it is there are more than average. I sanded and stripped over and over again and there were some spots that just would not come off. I came to terms with the fact that this wasn't going to be perfect. Look how light the wood is without anything on it.

As far as finishing, I tested many products including: paste wax, Feed-n-Wax, white wax, poly and I think a few others. I ultimately went with a matte poly to seal the table, I didn't do any staining as everything made the table much darker than I preferred and I didn't want to add to that.

I love that it is no longer glaringly shiny and I love that there is so much character and wear still visible.

Of course, finally finishing this table then made me tweak and refresh other parts of this room. My goal, overall, is to keep things simple and only keep things I love.