A Place to Eat

The Dining Room Table

Level: Beginner

Time to Complete: 10 hours

Cost: table + materials (we had everything on hand except the Zinsser and Polyurethane, so our cost out of pocket was around 25 bucks).

Materials: 

• Zinsser Magic Strip Citrus Action
• Stain
• Polyurethane
• Brush
• Steel Wool
• Scraper
• Pad for rubbing on stain

It has been so important to me to have a large table for

our home that can fit 12 people comfortably. We were

originally going to build a farmhouse table but I happened

upon an antique table on Craigslist for $200 that has

six leaves, is quite wide, and didn't require a lesson

on 'how to build a table'!

Step One: Strip the wood. We chose a stripping agent

that isn't as harsh. You simply rub it into the wood

and let it sit for 30 minutes before scraping

off the old layers.

As you can see here, three of the leaves were

not stained at all and the other three were

stained a different color. We're not really

sure what they were thinking.

We used steel wool on the legs.

Post-stripping.

Step Two:

Sand down the wood if you want to give

it more of an even tone and to 

prepare it for the stain.

Sanding...

Step Three: Staining.

It was raining a few weeks back so we

had to move it indoors for Alan to stain.

Stain the table 2-3 times or until you get

your desired color.

We had to rebuild the two ends of the table.

We purchased two oak pieces from Menards

and stained them like the table.

It's a super long table!! Now we can have

other families over and we can all sit together!

Step Four: Polyurethane. Brush on 

3-4 coats of the polyurethane.

The finished product! We tried it in the house

without two of its leaves to see how it looks. 

Now we just have build benches and

reupholster captains chairs:)