Amish Oak Table and Chairs Painted and Stained

Dining Table Before
(without leaves)

 

Dining Table and Chairs
Painted w/Stained Top

This lovely oak table came with two leaves and six chairs. Our customer had wanted a different, updated look so we suggested painting combined with keeping the table top woodgrain, but staining it little darker. 

They had originally envisioned an antique white, but after reviewing their décor choices, settled on latté, which is exactly as it sounds, a coffee color with a generous amount of cream added for that perfect flavor, or in this case, color combination. 

Prepping furniture for paint, especially chairs, takes patience and time. Mainly because it is all done by hand. You can’t use a power sander for chairs (except minimally) and spend hours scuffing up all the surface area to prepare it for first primer then two coats of paint. You also can’t skimp on the prep work as it directly effects the outcome of the project. 

We stripped and stained the table top, which had minor scratches, a rich, dark walnut to bring out the beautiful wood tones. The table’s pedestal base was painted to match the chairs, all done in latté. While some people simply do not like to paint furniture, there are times when painting is a nice choice. But by no means are you limited to using only paint. The combination of using paint and stain marries two distinct styles into a well-blended upgrade to outdated furniture without sacrificing the original integrity. 

The chairs, having many spindles, take a great deal of time to prep for painting. Chairs, period, are one the most time-consuming of all furniture projects, because there's so much surface area on a chair. Plus, the more detail (hence, spindles), the longer it takes to prep them. It’s also why chairs can be costly to refinish (or paint). All those surfaces need the same amount of attention and prep time. Ultimately, you have many colors in both stain and paint to choose from for your perfect furniture project.

Antique 19th Century Caned Chairs

Antique Chair After

 

Antique Chair Before

Here we go with more chairs! This time it was a set of four (4) chairs, all in need of TLC. These chairs dated back to the late 1800’s, so they were 19th century chairs that had seen a lot of use, therefore a lot of wear and tear, literally. 

Originally the chairs had caned seats, but over time they likely broke and someone decided to cover the seat with stamped leather, or rather, a leather-look-alike that seemed more like a heavy paper between layers of very thin leather. Broken and no longer able to seat a person, it was high time to remove the leather “fix” and replace it with the original woven caning. But first, the chairs all needed to be stripped, which for this type of chair is very time-consuming because (you guessed it), spindles. Yup, spindles are what takes a long time to strip because there are many of them and they are rounded, making them inaccessible from one angle, therefore it’s necessary to rotate the chair continuously while stripping. 

A chemical stripper was the best option for these (compared to a heat gun), because it melts away the old, worn finish and reveals the wood beneath. Once all the old finish is removed, the chairs are then cleaned up by using soft rags (usually old t-shirts, which are excellent for this) and wiping away the residue left by the stripper with lacquer thinner or acetone. This is a necessary step prior to sanding or your sandpaper will clog up with the residue, making it difficult to remove. 

Starting with 100 grit sandpaper, the chair is prepared to accept the next grit, 150, until the final sanding, which is done with 220 grit. Once all surfaces are sanded, the chair is wiped with lacquer thinner on a clean cloth, allowed to dry, then it is ready for stain. This entire process (for this type of chair) can take from several hours to a few days. Again, spindles are a lot of work, therefore more tedious and time-consuming than flat surface chairs. Once the stain is applied with either a soft cloth or a brush, or both, you wipe away the excess stain, then enjoy the amazing transformation from raw wood to beautifully restored, refinished wood. 

We used "special walnut" on these chairs. The new stain brought out all that gorgeous woodgrain, which had been hidden by years of oxidation that happens over time. Once the chairs had dried from staining (we allow 24-48 hours), the first coat of polyurethane was applied. For these chairs we used a water-based semi-gloss, durable and easy to clean up after. That first coat protects the stain and prepares the wood for the remaining two coats that finish the chair. It is necessary to lightly sand between each coat of poly with a high grit sandpaper to give it “tooth,” which makes just rough enough to accept the next layer of polyurethane. Once the third coat was applied, the chairs were done and ready for the last and final step, install the new caning. 

These chairs had “press-in” caning, cane that comes in pre-woven sheets and cut to size, then installed and kept in place with spline. It’s necessary to soak the cane and spline for at least an hour (or longer) so that it is pliable enough to work with, otherwise it cracks and breaks. Caning “wedges" are used to “press” the edge of the cane into the pre-cut 1/4” groove in the chair. The chairs had a closely woven cane originally, so we chose the same style to keep it original.

It’s necessary to choose the right size of spline, which is based on the width of the opening, so that it keeps the cane in place while completely filling the groove. If the cane is too loose, it will not keep the cane taut. It’s a tricky process because once you have pressed all the cane into the groove, you glue it slowly, allowing the glue to run into the groove, starting in the back of the chair. Once it is glued, you push the spline into place, tapping it with a hammer as you go. If the spline has been adequately soaked, it will bend easily around curves. If not, it can break, especially if those curves are tight. 

Luckily these chairs’ curves were fairly wide, so it wasn’t too difficult to bend them around the edge. Once you reach the back where you started, make a small pencil mark and cut the spline to match the starting point at an angle and tap it with a hammer in place. After all the spline is installed around the entire seat, hammer the spline so that it is level with the top of the chair. There will be caning strands popping out that were left over from the placement after the spline is installed, so they must be trimmed off. I use a sharp chisel and snap them away by tapping on a hammer close to the spline, which removes the excess. You can also use snippers. This completes the caning process. Allow the cane to dry at least 24-48 hours before you sit on the chair.

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.

Teak Table and Chairs Upgrade

Teak Table and Chairs Before

Table and Chairs After

Every so often we get a special furniture job which requires lots
of attention. This very curvy teak table with matching corner chairs was such a project. I had never seen another table and chair set that looked like this one, with chairs that literally wrapped around the curved corners of the table.

Indeed this was a nice little package of table and chairs which was being upgraded from worn outdoor to being used as a kitchen table.

Chair Before

Chairs After Stripping Raw Wood

My customer wanted a whitewashed look to match her cabinets. I had not used this technique before, but was ready to give it a try. But first the tedious and time consuming process of stripping and sanding had to be done. And wow! It was deceivingly harder than we had thought it to be, because chairs by their nature have a LOT of surface area and these chairs, with their unique curvy feature had an angled corner leg, which created a lot of tiny crevices to get into and strip so that they would accept the new stain.

Chair After Staining

The table had a center support with four branches that supported it and didn't interfere with the way the chairs pull up to the table. After sanding the top to bare wood, the gorgeous teak that was hiding beneath layers of outdoor wear became visible. It made sense to turn the table upside-down and work on the underside that way. After two long days of carefully stripping and sanding the detailed underside, the table was ready for stain. Each chair took a couple of days to fully strip and sand so they would accept the stain well.

Teak Table Before

I used "Coastal Boards" stain, which was actually an off white shade that, unlike paint, wiped off easily and left a beachy style finish which was very similar to the whitewash technique. The finished set looked great, exactly what I had envisioned. The teak took the stain well and ended up with a slightly creamy appearance to give it an updated, modern look to be enjoyed for years to come.

Completed Set in Kitchen

Teak Table After

From Amish to Amazing!

Amish Dining Set Before

Amish Dining Set After

This was a very well made, but dated Amish table and chairs set
which needed an update to match a newly remodeled kitchen. The table and chairs set was gorgeous oak with a large base. My client had seen a photo on Pinterest with a table and chairs set that had stain on the tabletop and seats and the rest was painted off white. It was a great look, so the decision was made. We received the table and chairs, then got to work.

The first step was to sand everything, top to bottom, then stripping the chair seats and tabletop, so it would accept the stain. With all the details in the wood, spindles and such, this was quite the time consuming task, which required a lot of patience and sanding tools of all kinds. Large sanding blocks for bigger areas and tiny sanding tools for all the crevices between the chair rails and the seats. The right tools make the job so much easier! Nothing replaces carefully hand sanding furniture.

Once all surfaces were sanded, we decided on painting first, saving the stained surfaces for last, since it would be easier painting around the stain instead of staining around the paint. It proved to be the right choice because even with light tack "Frog Tape," some of the stain seeped onto the painted areas, but not a problem as I was able to use an artist's paint brush and touch up those areas easily enough. Simple, not easy. It took hours to do this but the end result was worth the time spent. The paint we used was Sherwin-Williams "eggwhite," which was a soft off white, perfect for the "Country French" style the clients wanted. This new color matched their kitchen cabinets and blended right in with the newly remodeled kitchen. The end result is the clients got exactly what they had envisioned and it looked amazing!

Below, I had a bit my fun with my photo computer program and "merged" a "before" and "after" photo of one of the chairs so you can see what it looked like prior to the new finishes. It's not easy to create this kind of photo, because you literally have to be standing in the exact same position for each photo, then make them look like they are the same photo, even though they were taken weeks apart. It's a great way to see on one photo the huge difference a right redo makes for a worn out item of furniture. This was definitely a challenging job with stunning results.

Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Set

Table Before Refinishing

Table After Refinishing

Lots of photos for this job! A lovely woman from Madison Heights had acquired this mid-century modern dining table and chairs at a church rummage sale. She didn't want to tackle the refinish and re-upholstery job herself, so she called me. After she brought the set over, I was excited to get to work.

This was indeed a unique table and after a few hours of sanding, it proved to be quite the challenge. I decided to research it because I'd never seen anything quite like it. Lo and behold, it was a stranded bamboo table top!

Captain Chair Before

Captain Chair After

Out of curiosity, I researched the hardness of wood. As most people know, oak is among one of the hardest of woods, but on a scale of 0-5, oak ranks only 3.4 on the hardness scale, whereas bamboo ranks an astounding 4.7! "Ah," I thought, that's why it took so long to strip and sand this incredible surface. Four days later and it was finally ready to be refinished. I used a "natural" stain and three coats of polyurethane.

She didn't want the chairs refinished, only cleaned, so I used a cleaner specifically for wood and hand-polished each chair. The cushions were another story. The original cushions were, well, ugly. The fabric was typical of a 1950's decor, scratchy and quite uncomfortable. That could be because there was simply nothing left of the once-soft foam rubber bits. They had completely disintegrated into a substance resembling yellow-green dust. I'm so glad I removed them outside!

Seat Cushion After

Seat Cushion Before

After the fabric was removed, I peeled away the former "cushioned" seats with a large putty knife to separate them from the wood base, then scraped the powdery substance into the trash. The very worst seat crumbled so bad, it was all powder! One of the seat bottoms had to be replaced with new plywood because it was cracked and anyone other than a five-year-old would have eventually landed on the floor.

Chair Before

Chair After

Once all that was accomplished, I completed took apart the old seat cushions and used them as templates for the new seats. (I'm glad I did as seats tend to be slightly varied in size.) It was a long, tedious task to be sure, but well worth it as the new seats fit perfectly. I ended up surprising the customer by adding a corded edge, original to the first seat cushion. This not only made the edge look better, it gave the seats a defined, linear finish and wasn't too difficult to incorporate into the fabric layout.

My customer was very satisfied with the dining set and I must say, it looks terrific in her kitchen (see photo below.) I hope she enjoys this unique dining room set for many years to come.

Table and Chairs at Customer's Home