Antique Table and Chairs Whitewashed and Painted

Antique Table Before

Antique Table After

This antique table had been in the customer’s family for generations, however, she wanted an updated look for her lake house and decided that lighter and brighter would accomplish that. I recommended painting the chairs and legs and then using a “whitewash” technique for the table top. This was not an entirely new experience for me, as I had done something similar with a teak table and chairs set. However, this one was slightly and required a few additional steps. The table top was stripped and the legs got a better-than-average sanding, Next step was two coats of primer on the legs, then two coats of Sherwin-Williams "Pure White" paint. This table had a unique feature; the leaf extensions pulled out from each side then lifted up to the same level as the rest of the table. Because of this feature, the underside of these extensions had to be painted white to match the legs, since you could see them when the extensions were being used.

The table top was the last part of this big project. I began by using  Zar “Coastal Boards” stain, which is a white stain that is translucent on the wood, but giving it an overall lighter effect. I applied two coats of white stain, waiting a day between each application.

The next day I applied one coat of satin polyurethane to protect the stain. You cannot use stain without some kind of topcoat protection as it will not repel food stains such as wine or other colorful delicacies. After the polyurethane had tried, I felt that the table top still needed to be lighter and brighter, so I experimented with the same paint I used on the legs, brushing in long, even strokes, going with the grain of the wood. This was a great way to use the “artsy” side of my brain and employ a unique painting technique that looked pretty good. I decided to paint the table top twice, before I felt it had exactly the look I had envisioned for the set. The new top finally complete, complemented the legs and chairs perfectly.

Antique Chair Before

Antique Chair After

Each chair needed to be completely stripped, as I found out (unfortunately) that even after I had thoroughly sanded the chairs, some of the stain was blended through the stain blocker primer, not something that is supposed to happen. I was not thrilled, because the only way to be sure it wouldn’t bleed through was to strip it to bare wood. This wasn’t in the plan or budget (for my time), but it had to be done to get it right. I also ended up buying a different primer and that also helped. Primer isn’t supposed to bleed through.

Since the chairs had a bit of back detail and front spindles, they required a lot of time to remove all the old finish and get them to bare wood. I removed the original stain and varnish using mostly lacquer thinner and a brush and lots of elbow grease. It was labor-intensive work that required a great deal of time, each chair took about two to three days to get bare and sanded, ready for primer. But it worked because after I applied the primer, no more bleeding. I also decided to apply two coats of primer which insured better coverage. This was followed by two coats of the final paint color, Sherwin-Williams  “Pure White.” The seats received new fabric which completed the newly updated “beachy” theme my customer had asked for.

This old antique furniture is now a modern, contemporary dining set that makes a stunning addition to a beach house.

Updated Dining Set at New Home

Dining Set at New Home

Dining Set at New Home