Drop Leaf Table Painted

Drop Leaf Table Before

Drop Leaf Table After

Every so often we get a unique job such as this drop leaf table. It was small, pretty and in need of a new look. The request was to paint the legs a soft white and paint the top black. This was a dramatic change for the white, yet worn table.

The unique feature of this table was that the center spindles opened up to support the leaves when the table was opened. This made the table easy to store as it was only ten inches wide when the leaves were down. Then when needed, easily opened to accommodate a few chairs and have tea time in ten minutes. I realized after I had begun working on this little gem that one of the bottom sections of a spindle was broken, held together with tape and painted over.

In order to repair the break and do it right, I removed the top from the legs along with all the hinges. This way I was able to reach the hard to get to places to properly prep the table for painting. It required a bit of stripping, a lot of sanding and three coats of spray paint on the legs and three coats of brush on paint for the top. I also cleaned the hinges and screws on my polishing wheel. I believe if you are going to take a piece of furniture apart, cleaning the hardware is part of the restoration process. It looks so much better than using the rusty hinges (or other hardware) and makes it easier to install.

TIP: A trick I’ve learned is after removing the rust from the screws, I scrape each screw along the edge of a bar of soap. This little extra step makes the screws easier to re-install as the soap acts as a lubricant without damaging the wood or the metal. To do a restoration right, it’s well worth the many steps involved since the results will be obvious and appreciated.

Drop Leaf Table Finished and Open