This Coffee Table Was Headed for the Dumpster - Now It's Almost Unrecognizable

A coffee table found in a neighbor’s trash was restored into a finished piece. The process began with cleaning dust and grime, with help from a spouse. Hardware was removed, then the table was sanded using progressively finer sandpaper, with wiping and cleaning between steps. Staining followed using a cherry oak and maple red combination to create a rich antique look, applying a lighter stain across the table and then adding a darker stain immediately to blend smoothly, with multiple coats and overnight drying. Hardware was cleaned and sprayed with metal gold flake paint. The table was sealed with clear poly glaze using light coats overall and heavier coats on the top.

"“I asked my neighbor why he was throwing it out, and he said it was just old and worn,” Andrew says. “I saw a table that I could restore, so the project began.” He completed the redo in about five days."

"“The first step was cleaning the dust build-up and gunk off the table,” which Andrew's wife, Ruby, helped with. Then, Andrew took off the hardware and sanded the piece. He started with a heavy-grade sandpaper, wiped and cleaned the excess, then repeated the process with a finer, lightweight sandpaper."

"“Once sanded and cleaned, it was time to start the staining process,” Andrew says. “I chose to use a combination of cherry oak and maple red to give it a rich antique look.” Andrew did one complete application of the lighter stain over the entire table, then immediately added the darker stain over top “so that it mixed in smoothly.” He added three coats of the light-dark hybrid."

"Next, Andrew cleaned the hardware and used a metal gold flake spray paint to restore it. And lastly, he sealed the table with a clear poly glaze, using two light coats over the whole table and three medium to heavy coats on just the top. Andrew's proud that he was able to salvage the table and calls the finished product “beautiful.”"

Read at Apartment Therapy