What can you do after you remodel your kitchen and suddenly you realize the dining room table no longer matches your décor? You can either buy a new one, or if you are crafty and like to re use your furniture like me, you can completely change the look of your old table with a little bit of sanding and a can of stain.
After 3 months of thinking (because I hate sanding) I decided to stain my 10-year-old Ikea table. The table was in great condition and it was natural solid birch so there wasn't much sanding involved. My sweet husband "offered" his help and together we tackled this project in a weekend.
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| Before picture, Ikea solid birch table
This is what the table looked like before. The table was strong with a few scratches, water stains and pencil marks from when my kids used to do homework on the table
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After Sanding.
This is what the table looked like after sanding, I used 3 different sand paper grits. I started with a rough 80 grit to strip the clear acrylic and remove small imperfections, after that I used a 180 grit which is very fine to remove scratches from previous grit and finished it with a 120 finishing grit. Maybe I got a little carried away with all the different sanding papers but I wanted this table to look great  This is what the table look like after the first coat of stain. I used an espresso for the table top and ebony for the legs, I did not stain the bottom of the table, who is going to see it anyway? And here is the final result, I am very happy with the way the table looks now, it looks like it belongs in the room and it matches the rest of the furniture. 
I bought matching chairs and bench from Ikea, so at the end I did not spend that much on a new dining room set.
 Stay posted for my next project which will be an Ikea dresser I bought at a yard sale that I think will look great in my formal living room. |