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The face and founder behind Made with Grace + Grit. My fun-loving interior design team is here to help make your dream home a reality. Read my full story
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Hey Friends!
I am really excited to share this project with you! I have passed up so many awesome treasures, because I didn’t want to take on the process of refinishing wood. I have found the perfect solution WITHOUT sanding or stripping!! General Finishes carries a line of gel stains that can be applied over finished wood. I feel like a kid in a adult in an antique shop full of perfect treasures with this new discovery. This post is not sponsored I just love this product!candy store
As a newbie, I purchased mine at a local woodworking shop for $20 per 1/2 pint. I just found it on amazon (angels singing) for $16.95! What would we do without amazon prime, seriously. This product is a little more expensive than the average stain, but totally worth it in time it saves you. A little bit goes a long ways too. I used about 1/4 of the stain and 1/2 of the top coat of my 1/2 pint containers for this table top.
I completed an average size dining room table top in less than an hour of work time. I was kicking myself for waiting so long to refinish this table. It was my husbands table when we got married. Over the years it has been at the center of our home and it has taken a beating. It had tons of scratches from craft projects, huge white spots from warm plates, and a few spots missing in the finish from polish remover. I was constantly putting runners and place-mats to hide all of the imperfections. Below is a true before of the whole set.
I purchased the gel stain, otherwise I keep the rest of the items on hand for projects. These foam brushes are the best for staining wood, because they are so affordable you can just toss them when you’re done. I always have a box of gloves in my shop, this is a necessity with stain. There have been a few times I tried to go without and it looked like I had #2 on my hands for DAYS. For plastic I have some of this in the shop from a DIY slip N slide we did last summer. It has come in handy for all my crazy projects. You could probably use a large card board box from all those amazon deliveries too. I love the blue shop disposable towels, because they don’t leave lint behind and they are very thick. I have had the same box now for a year. You could also use old T shirts.
General Finishes Gel Stain (Antique Walnut)
General Finishes Gel Top Coat (Satin)
I did this table right in my dining room. I just pulled the chairs out and shimmied some plastic under the table. To prep the surface I used some all purpose cleaner to wipe down the table. I love listening to sermons or Chip Ingram while I work on projects, so I got that situated. I kept all my supplies within arms reach so I didn’t need to parade through the house with stain covered gloves.
Get out those gloves, and put them on. Time to open up that stain and get started. It is best to work in sections. I did one half of the table at a time. Using the foam brush put a layer of the stain on the surface going with the grain of the wood. This product is very thick, making it very easy to work with and control. Once one section had a coat on, I went behind with my Shop clothes to wipe the excess off. I did a couple of coats like this. It only took me a few minutes to apply each coat. I tried to let each coat dry for 30 minutes to an hour. Just like when you paint if you apply coats too close together you start moving around and removing the first coat that hasn’t cured.
My table had sooooo many of those darn white spots and a few spots from polish remover. To help those spots blend, I went back over them. I put a thin layer on like before, but then I let it ist about 15 minutes before I wiped it off. This time when I wiped off I used one of the clothes covered in stain and was very gentle not to remove too much stain. I kept doing this until all of the blemishes were blended in with the rest of the table. Once you have the desired look you will let the piece cure. I would try to wait at least 24 hours. Because life gets crazy I ended up waiting a couple of days.
WARNING: If you don’t have a lot of experience with stain you may not know it is highly flammable. It is important to let your brushes and cloths sit out flat and dry up before you throw them away. I usually lay them on my bench in the garage. If they are crumpled together and placed in a garbage they can actually start a fire.
I got things all prepped again and got my tub of top coat out. I didn’t use gloves for this step since it was clear, but you could. I chose to go with a satin finish because it will wash up nicely without being too shiny. If you have ever used polyurethane this is essentially the same thing just thicker. I did use a foam brush for this step. Similar to the stain I painted this on going with the grain of the wood. This product settles nicely and I don’t see or feel any brush marks in the finish. Since this was a dining room table and sees a lot of traffic I did a few coats. Let it cure for a few hours between each coat.
I can’t wait to use this stain again! It was so easy to bring new life back into this table. Speaking of new life….Last week my toddler thought he should spruce up this table too. Guess we know what my next project will be. The list is never ending 😉
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The face and founder behind Made with Grace + Grit. My fun-loving interior design team is here to help make your dream home a reality. Read my full story
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