Basic Kitchen Table

This is one of those super basic, lightweight pine tables from Ikea. It was used as an actual dining table, then a garage worktop, then storage, then finally an arts/crafts table. It has seen a lot… and now it’s ready for a new life. I didn’t take any before pictures, but just imaging a beat up, light color wood table.

The good news – nothing needed repair and everything was still sturdy. It just took a lot of sanding to clean up a lot of the abuse. I was going for a worn out farmer style look – so I didn’t sand out all the cuts, dents and dings – I wanted that character to stay intact.

For paint – I used some random ideas & techniques. I used 4 or 5 colors sticking to variations of green, white, & gray. I’d mix a color with water (about a 50/50 ratio), then apply to the table using a rag and just rubbing the paint on the piece. After it dried, I’d lightly & quickly sand it to smooth out the strokes and knock down any raised wood (water does that). I repeated this process with all the colors I chose – sanding as I went to make sure the table had a look I liked.
Once the colors were applied, I rubbed a light color wood stain over the entire table. Then finished it with a few coats of polyurethane.

You can see some of the old cut marks from when it was a crafts table. And there are a few discolored old stains that changed the way the wood accepted the paint – creating really unique patterns.