Bare Legs and Milk Paint

Alright y'all - this is what a "boring" weekend without plans turns into at my house....a dinning room table redo!

One morning, hubs and I were sitting at our kitchen island enjoying our morning, freshly pressed cup of Costa Rican coffee when we suddenly realized we had no plans for the weekend! Let me tell you, I could hear angles singing! Ever since Thanksgiving we have been constantly on the go so when a weekend approaches us where we don't have much on the agenda....well....we start redoing furniture we already own. Ha! 

I know...normal people would enjoy a free weekend by doing nothing, but not us. We would rather redo our dinning room table and take advantage of this nice February weather unseasonable (for most of the US) weather. 

I have owned this table since my sophomore year of college. It's old. Not THAT old but for something I picked up for 120 bucks at a garden center several years ago, it has seen better days. It has lived through college, at least 4 moves that I can think of, and a kitten using it as a chewing toy. It needs some love. Hubs and I don't really have black in our house anymore and, really, the table was starting to look very out of place so we decided to give it a little face lift! And let me tell you, this project taught me a lot of patience. 

Here's the before picture: 

I really had no plans for this table so I basically made this up as I went. Luckily, it worked out! Once I had it out in the driveway and could get a good look at it, I decided it needed a new top. Of course Hubs keeps a pile of scrap wood sitting in the garage so I started laying out the pieces on the top of the table, in no particular pattern, and then this happened...

Ta da! You can clearly tell that this was scrap wood, test pieces, wood we have pulled off of other furniture, and some left over scrap wood from our Barn Wood Bench. After I got everything laid out how I liked it, I used a little wood glue to secure the pieces, and then started in with the nail gun.  Once my new table top was in place, it was time to get the existing colors off, and get this thing prepped for some major overhaul. Thankfully, the sanding was pretty simple. Orbital sander and some coarse sand paper and it was looking like new already!

Now it was time for Hubs to step in. I knew the top looked a bit unfinished so Hubs finished off the edges with some trim pieces that REALLY made this table look uniform and complete. 

Okay, ya'll, I hate doing this too, but you REALLY need to take the time to cake this thing with wood filler. Don't be shy...use a lot of it! Since this will be used as a dinning table, we didn't want anything to be uneven so once we got wood filler into all the nooks and crannies, Hubs took the ole mighty belt sander to the top of this thing and made it silky smooth. 

**This is a must! Take the time to do this. It's not fun, I know. But, it will be worth it in the end. Deep breath....patience. 

Oh, and while we had the belt sander out, we went ahead and stripped the legs of the black paint and let 'er bare legs show. 

Now on to the fun part - stain! So, this process really tests my patience because I crave instant gratification...which I get with stain...but I am always so anxious to see the finished product. It would be so easy to skip may of these steps, but from experience, I have learned that it's not worth it. Breathe.....

Okay so first thing's first, this wood needs some conditioning! This is simple. One coat, 15 minutes, and you're ready to start staining. You can either use a pre-stain or a wood conditioner. Either one will get the job done. 

Now, you can begin to apply your stain. In the past I have always used an old t-shirt to apply the stain but this time I used a sponge brush (and will use this technique for all projects going forward). To really make sure the grain of the wood shows through you will want to work in small sections. Apply your stain, wait 2 minutes, then wipe it off with a lent free cloth (or an old t-shirt). Do this across your whole piece. Once you have covered the entire surface and let it dry for 1-2 hours, give it a quick light sanding with the orbital using fine grit sand paper, and then start the process again. I believe we did this 3 times. 

We're getting there!

Again, since this is actually going to be used as our dinning room table (for now), we wanted the top to be smooth. But with smooth, I also wanted to make sure it was protected from hot plates and any wine spills that may happen on a dinning table. Cue the polyurethane! Seriously, this stuff might be my new best friend. I've used it in the past but never knew it's full potential until now. A-mazing. I put a coat of polyurethane (or "poly-blah-blah-blah" as Hubs likes to call it) on this table top every chance I got! You can put as many coats as you want and you are only helping the furniture, so don't hold back. It is important to let it dry for 1-2 hours between coats, but go crazy. I think we put 2-3 coats on this thing every day for 5 days before we decided that it was probably as good as it was going to get. Ha! Definitely worth it. See...the patience is paying off!

Now for those bare legs. 

Instead of staining the entire table one color, I decided I really wanted some contrast. I wanted the top to be dark but I wanted the bottom to have a more antiqued finish. I have done this before but with more effort than I ever cared to exert. Ha! This is a whole new experience we are about to embark on together but it should make the desired results a little bit easier to accomplish. The completion of this table calls for a trip to the store to find gel stain and milk paint. And yes, you have to go to a specialty store to find this.

Oh and I couldn't have done this with out a little help from Ana White.

Here's how this works: first, make sure your bare legs are prepared with some pre-stain (Keep in mind when using the pre-stain, this isn't something you can let sit over night. You must allow at least 15 minutes for the conditioner to set in, but no longer than 2 hours. Directions may vary depending on the brand so look at your can). Open your can of gel stain and get to stirring, don't shake! This stuff is thick and needs to be worked on for a couple minutes before use. Apply as directed and let dry at least 24 hours between coats and/or before moving on to the milk paint. 

On to the milk paint! This stuff is a new experience for me and comes in a variety of colors, so get creative! It's not exactly cheap but I would recommend trying it out on some scrap wood before slapping it on your furniture. It took me some trial and error and again practicing my patience. But here's what we figured out: the packaging calls for equal parts milk paint and water. I found that it was much easier to deal with it if there was just a little more milk paint in the mixture than water...but don't go overboard. It should be a little bit thicker than the consistency of milk...maybe more like a milkshake? Your call. 

The first coat seams to go on a little streaky but I was pleasantly surprised with what the second coat looked like. Oh, and I didn't waste any time between the first and second application. Now....again I have to practice patience. This HAS to sit for a good 24 hours before you can do anything with it. Technically this is supposed to crackle and look awesome after it drys....we will see how it goes!

So after we let this sit for 24 hours, we noticed it was crackling in some spots but not all over like we had hoped. So, we lightly went over all the legs and the skirt with the orbital sander and very fine grit sand paper. The milk paint began to flake off in areas and it was looking great. We finished the legs off with two coats of "poly-blah-blah-blah"  and moved it back inside! I was very pleased with the end results and will be using milk paint for future projects!! Hope y'all like it. 

Oh, and the kitten I mentioned in beginning of this post....he was happy to have his table back. I think he approves. Hopefully he's out grown the chewing stage. And yes, he's actually that big. Ha!

Whew! Now for the chairs..... (coming soon!)

Stay safe- KC