Part 4 of our table refinish demonstrates how I refinished the base of our pedestal table. You will remember that when we bought the table it looked like this...
It definitely had a yellow tinge to it. It was not very attractive, but it had a ton of potential and the price {$50} was just right.
In earlier posts I demonstrated the stripping process (Part 1), the staining process (Part 2), and the finishing process of the table top (Part 3). In this post I will show how I refinished the base or pedestal of the table.
I decided early on that I wanted to paint the bottom of the table. I love the look of two-toned furniture items, so this seemed like a given. Plus, stripping a flat surface is relatively easy, but stripping a curved surface {the rounded pedestal} is harder. I like easy. I chose the color black for the base, but I considered white, off-white, or gray. Any of those would have been lovely.
It's much easier painting an item rather than stripping an item and re-staining it. One doesn't have to go through the stripping process if you are going to use paint. I lightly sanded the bottom of the table with an orbital sander and by hand and that was it. The object of the sanding is to rough up the surface a smidge so the paint will adhere nicely. I didn't use wood filler in any of the scratch marks or imperfections because I love those. It shows the table had a life before us and was well-loved. I bought a black satin spray paint with a primer built-in. Make sure you use a paint with a primer. A primer will seal the original material so the paint doesn't soak into it, requiring extra coats. Another tip -- buy a Spray Can Grip Accessory. It is so much easier to get a nice, even spray with one of these. Your furniture will look much more like it was professionally painted!
Also, if you want a nice drip free project, spray on several light coats, rather than heavy coats, thus avoiding running or dripping paint. Do you see the image below? The arrow points to a spot that was not fully covered by the first coat of paint. That's a good thing. Several light coats will give you a much better result than one heavy one.
Here is the base of the table after three coats of black primer and paint. This was right after I painted it so it looks a little glossy.
I used a coat of Varathane Clear Satin Oil-Based Spar Urethane Spray to finish it. This particular urethane is self leveling and gave the base a gorgeous satin finish. Plus, it's hard as nails.
When that was completed all we did was screw on the casters. My heart did a pitter-patter when we added these. So beautiful...
We haven't actually screwed the top of the table to the base yet, and the rug that will be placed beneath it hasn't arrived, but here's a sneak peak at the finished project. Oh... I also have to assemble the chairs, so there will be be a Part 5 to this adventure in the near future, until then...
Have a wonderful week!
