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How to restore an old wooden table


How to Restore a Wooden Table


From library ladders to Hoosier cabinets, fixing up a roughed-up or mistreated furniture piece is extremely rewarding. But if you’ve never tried your hand at any kind of antique furniture restoration project, you might want to start smaller and simpler. One easy beginner restoration project? A wooden table. Perfect for novice restorers, a wooden table can give you good practice sanding and finishing. Plus, you can pick up a basic old wooden table at any flea market or thrift shop.

Ready to start? Here are step-by-step instructions on how to restore a wooden table so you feel confident and inspired to bring that fixer-upper furniture piece home.

Supplies You’ll Need

Before you begin your first wood table restoration project, make sure to grab all your supplies. Here’s precisely what you’ll need:

All-purpose cleaning spray

Cloth or paper towels

Coarse sandpaper (grits 60, 120 and 360)

Block sander or mechanical sander

Tack cloth (dry and clean!)

Stain or primer and paint

Discover Our Antique Furniture Restoration Supplies

How to Restore a Wooden Table, Step by Step

Source: Koldunov Alexey/Shutterstock. com

With your supplies on hand, you’re ready to begin your restoration project. Here’s a step-by-step process on how to restore a wooden table to appear good as new! Or, at least, cleaned up to enhance its inherent charm.

Step One: Analyze the Table (and Be Honest About Your Skill Level)

Give the table a good look-over. Does it have hand-carved details and scrollwork that might be tedious? For a first-time restorer, it’s wise to start out working with a wood table with less ornamentation. All those tight corners and crevices can be tricky if you are just learning. So, it’s important to be honest with yourself and your skill level.

In the same vein, you want to choose a wooden table made of solid wood. Avoid working with something made with a veneer overlay, which is thinner and more fragile to work with sanding-wise. But, how can you tell it’s veneer? Since veneer sheets are rotary-sliced from a log, it creates a pattern that repeats across the width of the grain.

Step Two: Give the Wooden Table a Thorough Cleaning

Prepping the surface is one step many first-time restorers tend to miss. However, while it takes some elbow grease to thoroughly clean off all the dirt, oil, grease, etc., it is worth the effort. Otherwise, you’re simply sanding all that gunk and mess straight into your new, soon-to-be stained surface. For this step, you’ll need a basic all-purpose cleaner and paper towels or rags.

Step Three: Start the Stripping Process

Take your roughest sandpaper grit (the 60) and begin sanding, working with the grain. This stripping process essentially removes all the old paint and varnish, allowing you to start fresh. If you’re one who appreciates some quiet solitude in the workshop, by all means, sand by hand. However, a mechanical sander will go much faster. Once you’ve stripped the wooden table from tabletop to legs, wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove any remaining dust

Thought you were done sanding? Sorry, but no. You’ll need to repeat the same process, only this time using finer 120-grit sandpaper.

Step Four: Apply Your Finish of Choice

Source: Efetova Anna/Shutterstock.com

In the next step, you will apply a finish. Whether you choose a stain or primer and paint is up to you. When choosing a stain, don’t try to match the existing finish. Keep it simple and choose something you like. Wipe down the table and apply a coat, letting it dry. Once it’s dry, do a pass with your 360-grit sandpaper, wipe down the dust and repeat until you have the depth of color you desire. When painting, you’ll follow the same steps, sanding down the primer before painting.

There’s also a third option: furniture oil. Using a simple oil can enhance the richness of the wood’s color and accentuate the grains. It can also protect the wood past the surface and be reapplied time and again. Oil will not offer the same sheen as a stain or finish. Choose a tung or Danish oil – or even a teak oil – for dense woods to give your wooden table a more natural look. And remember: You can always try furniture oil first, moving on to a stain or paint if it’s not to your liking.

Step Five: Add a Protective Clear Coat

One final step you can take is to add a clear coat.With all your efforts, a clear coat can provide a layer of protection over stains and paints. However, should you choose to use oil to present the wood’s natural beauty, a clear coat is not neede

Apply two coats of either polyurethane or polycrylic, sanding between each with the fine-grit 360 sandpaper.

Now you know exactly how to restore a wooden table. The next time you find a good-looking, period-style or vintage table at the thrift store or estate sale, you’ll know exactly what to do with it. Don’t be intimidated by this easy furniture restoration project. Once you put your stripping, sanding and finishing skills to practice, you’ll be eyeing every wooden table you pass, eager to bring it home.

How to restore wood furniture: clean, repair and refinish

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Looking for practical advice on how to restore wood furniture? You've come to the right place. Neglected old wooden furniture often suffers from a build-up of dirt and grime, with the diminished colour and lustre resulting in a dull appearance. With this in mind, owners of antique furniture are often left wondering how to restore old wood furniture (often much treasured pieces) to their former glory. 

Thankfully, restoring wood furniture is quite easily done and we've created this easy to follow guide so that when you come to restore furniture, you'll know what to do for ultimate success. What's more, with restoration furniture seemingly always at the forefront of home trends – in both period and contemporary properties – and therefore, more costly to purchase, now you can save on something beautiful by simply creating your own.

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Period Living is the UK's best-selling period homes magazine. Get inspiration, ideas and advice straight to your door every month with a subscription .

The mahogany writing desk in this project below had ugly watermarks that marred the top that also needed attention. While it’s easy to restore old wooden furniture on a DIY basis, we'd always recommend ensuring you use the correct products. Our guide below talks you through furniture renovation and cleaning done professionally.

Once you're done, see all our cleaning buys, how-tos and hacks to help keep the rest of your home sparkling. Looking for more expert advice on antique furniture restoration perhaps, and all things period properties – both interior and exterior? Head over to our Period Living hub page.

Everything you will need to restore old wooden furniture:

Eveything you need to restore old wooden furniture...

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How to restore old wooden furniture: step-by-step instructions

1. Prepare for stripping back 

Stripping furniture is messy, but key to wood restoration, so work outside if possible. If working indoors, protect the floors and any furniture nearby and ensure good ventilation. To avoid damaging the finish on the body of the table, cover it in a plastic sheet so that only the top is exposed. Apply stripper liberally with an old brush.

 2. Allow layers to dissolve 

For a good result when refinishing wood, leave the stripper on for between five and 30 minutes until the finish – a mix of old varnish and polish – has dissolved. The length of time will depend on the composition and thickness of the coating. If the stripper hasn’t removed all the layers just re-spread the paste and it will continue to work. 

Refinishing wood furniture may seem like an art but is easily done.

 3. Neutralise the chemical stripper

Neutralise the wood with a pad of steel wool soaked in white spirit or proprietary wax and polish remover, following the grain of the wood. Before using any chemical always read the label carefully as different strippers require different neutralisers. Failure to neutralise stripper can allow it to reactivate and your wood restoration may not go to plan. 

 4. Clean off the rest of the table: 

The next step to refinish furniture is to wipe away residues with cotton rags and leave for 24 hours. Meanwhile clean away dirt and old polish elsewhere by applying wax remover to a steel wool pad or coarse cloth and working in small areas at a time. Leave for a few minutes to soften the wax and wipe away with a clean cloth before it solidifies.

 5. Return to the tabletop

24 hours after stripping the tabletop, use a sanding block and very fine glasspaper to smooth over the wood fibres raised during the stripping process – work with the grain. Shake and vacuum the protective sheet to get rid of dust that could spoil the finished piece. Finally wipe the top with a tack cloth.

 6. Tackle areas of bleached wood

When you restore furniture, you'll notice that every piece is different to tackle. Here for instance, for many years the table was sited beneath a window and the sun has bleached part of the wood, so applying a mahogany wood dye will make the top a uniform colour. Apply generously with a brush and allow stain to penetrate; wipe away excess with a cloth. Ensure an even finish by working in a good light. 

Restoration furniture is a the perfect way to introduce something timeless to both period and modern properties.

 7. Improve the sheen and finish when refinishing wood

Once dry, apply a coat of finishing oil using a brush or lint-free cloth. Allow oil to penetrate for 10 minutes and wipe away the surplus before it goes sticky. Wait for at least five hours and gently rub with 0000 gauge steel wool before applying a further coat; repeat again – the more coats the greater the durability and sheen.

 8. The final spruce up with wood restorer

Finally, sparingly apply a thin coat of good furniture wax over the whole table. Leave for an hour at least and polish with a lint-free cloth. To avoid warping caused by drying out of the wood, position furniture away from radiators and fires. Sunlight will bleach the wood, so ensure it’s not placed beneath a window 

 Home remedies for restoring old wooden furniture 

There are a couple more tricks you can use to restore furniture at home. You can remove surface dirt and old layers of wax polish with a home-made mix of four parts white spirit to one part of linseed oil. If the finish is still looking a bit lifeless, pour some proprietary wood reviver onto a cotton cloth and buff vigorously. 

One such remedy which works when refinishing wood furniture is:

Finally, refinish furniture with some beeswax polish and that should bring it back to life.

How to restore your old table at home with your own hands

It is sometimes expensive to buy good furniture. If you have an old table that you don’t use because its appearance has deteriorated over the years, we will tell you some simple ways to restore its former beauty with your own hands, and, perhaps, make it a highlight of your interior.

Before decorating a table in one way or another, you need to inspect it in order to assess its condition, then do the necessary repairs yourself, and then prepare the surface for decoration.

How to prepare the table surface?

Surface preparation - required for restoration . It is produced in the following sequence:

  1. We remove the old coating. Solvents are not recommended, they can corrode the wood. It is better to use sandpaper with a coarse grain and a grinder.
  2. We also use sandpaper for carved legs. Using a screwdriver or a knife to clean the surface will almost certainly ruin the wood. In especially severe cases, you can carefully use a thin wire tangle, or use a solvent by applying a small amount to a cotton swab.
  3. After finishing the removal of the old coating, prime the surface. The primer will provide the wood with additional protection and prepare it for filling small cracks and defects.
  4. It is recommended to use a special putty for wooden surfaces. It can be applied when all the primer has been absorbed.
  5. Wait until the putty is completely dry and once again go over the surface of the table with fine sandpaper and again cover with a thin layer of primer.
  6. Now you can start restoring and decorating with your own hands.

Option 1. Coating with paint and varnish

This option is great for beginners , it does not require any special knowledge or skills from you.

Procedure:

  1. Repair the table and prepare the surface.
  2. Stir paint thoroughly.
  3. With a soft brush, carefully apply the paint along the fibers. You need to start from the countertop, and gradually go down. This is necessary to avoid the appearance of streaks of paint.
  4. Apply two coats of paint and wait for it to dry.
  5. Apply the varnish in the same way. Varnish can be from one to three layers, depending on what degree of gloss you want to get in the end.
  6. Instead of paint, solutions can be used to give furniture surfaces a gold or silver color.

Easy DIY table restoration for beginners is complete.

And since there are many different technologies for the restoration and refurbishment of furniture, we will consider other options.

Option 2. Mosaic tiling

If table top was scratched during operation, or dents appeared on its surface, you can veneer it with your own hands with mosaic, which will hide all defects and restore the table to its former beauty.

Prepare for work:

Repair order:

  1. Check that the legs are holding well. If necessary, secure them properly with self-tapping screws.
  2. Degrease the top and leg surfaces with alcohol or acetone.
  3. Sand and sand surfaces.
  4. Places that cannot be sanded, puttied, then sanded.
  5. Coat all surfaces with a coat of paint. Leave until dry. For work it is better to use paint in an aerosol.
  6. Apply glue in a good layer on the table surface.
  7. Cut the mosaic and glue it with the mesh down. Press the mosaic and smooth. Postpone work until the adhesive has completely hardened.
  8. Carefully seal the painted edges with adhesive tape and grout the mosaic.
  9. Wipe the surface of the table with a damp sponge.
  10. After a day, wipe the table with a small amount of vegetable oil.

Our do-it-yourself mosaic table is ready.

Option 3. Decorating with a pattern

If the tabletop has no obvious defects , then it is quite possible to get by with decorating the surface with patterns.

We need:

Work order:

  1. Sand, sand and putty the old surface.
  2. We cover the countertop with base color paint.
  3. Drawing. You can use a special stencil, apply asymmetrical multi-colored splashes or depict an elaborate ornament. You can make multi-colored stripes by sticking tape in even lines on the countertop and painting over the stripes between the tape.
  4. Finished tabletop after complete drying of the picture varnished and left to dry.

A table decorated with handmade drawings can be used for its intended purpose.

Option 4. Decorating with wallpaper

One of the most simple, budgetary ways to restore the surface of furniture is to wallpaper the table top.

For this you will need:

  • Suitable wallpapers
  • Wide head nails
  • Adhesive
  • Hammer
  • Varnish
  • Paint
  • Brushes

Procedure:

  1. Degrease the worktop.
  2. Cover the surface with paint and leave to dry.
  3. We measure and cut a sheet of wallpaper to fit the countertop.
  4. We glue the wallpaper, carefully smoothing it to avoid the appearance of bumps and bubbles.
  5. We fold the ends of the wallpaper under the table top and glue it.
  6. On top of the wallpaper, if desired, you can apply a frame or some kind of pattern.
  7. We fix the wallpaper with nails along the contour.
  8. Coat the product with varnish and leave to dry.

Decorating the table top with wallpaper is complete.

Option 5. Decoupage

The decoupage technique is perfect for restoring old furniture . On sale there is a huge variety of napkins and applications for decoupage. Using this technology, you can decorate not only the table top, but also the sides and even the legs.

Prepare for work:

  • Decoupage napkins
  • PVA glue
  • Brush
  • Varnish

If napkins 9You could not find 0027 for decoupage , instead of drawing from them, you can transfer an image from newspapers or magazines to the surface of the table.

Procedure:

  1. Prepare the table surface.
  2. We transfer the design with glue to the countertop and other surfaces. We are waiting for everything to dry.
  3. We varnish the table.

It remains to wait for complete drying and the design of the table using the decoupage technique is ready.

Option 6. Restoring with varnish

If your table has not suffered too much from time , however, its appearance is no longer very good, and the varnishing needs to be replaced, you can do this:

  1. Prepare the surface as described above. We process the surface first with a grinder disk with a coarse grain, and then with a fine one.
  2. We evaluate the condition of the legs, if necessary, replace them with new ones.
  3. After filling the surfaces, degrease the table parts with a special compound.
  4. Apply a layer of acrylic primer and wait for drying.
  5. Manually sanding the surface.
  6. You can proceed to varnishing. For work, choose a high-quality varnish a couple of tones darker than the original coating and a high-quality brush.
  7. Apply intermittently three layers of varnish and again wait for complete drying.
  8. Now it's time to apply the protective coating. Most often they are wax. Take some wax on a soft cloth and rub it carefully into the table surface. It takes about a week for the wax to completely harden and absorb. At this time, the table is too early to use.

A week later, our restored table is ready.

Other methods of restoring old tables

  1. Stick a self-adhesive film on the surface of the table.
  2. Cover the tabletop with oilcloth, nailing it under the table with a construction stapler.
  3. If the table top cannot be repaired, you can replace it with glass and install beautiful lighting from below or cover the table surface with ceramic tiles.

As can be seen from the practice of , the process of restoring tables does not tolerate fuss. A lot of time can pass between the start of work and the receipt of the finished result. But if you approach the matter with all responsibility and thoroughness, your table will turn out no worse than a new one.

Restoring an old wooden table at home: a step-by-step guide

Probably, many people have an old rare table somewhere in the closet or in the attic, which the hand does not raise to throw away. In this article, we will try to convince you not to throw it away, but to give it a new life. Moreover, this is relevant in our time, when there is a continuous high cost around. It is much cheaper to do a table repair with your own hands and get an exclusive designer item that will surprise all your friends when you look at it.

Restoration of furniture is quite an exciting process and, if desired, everyone can try it.

We will describe the restoration of the table on the example of a small table, which you see in the photo above.

Content

Tools

Before starting repair work, you need to stock up on the following tools and materials:

Restoration steps

Inspection

We inspect the table and determine what defects are present on the product. These can be:

If the legs wobble a lot, it is better to dismantle the table and carry out further restoration disassembled.

Sanding

The purpose of this process is to remove the old paintwork and prepare the table for subsequent polishing.

For sanding, we need sandpaper. We begin to grind the product with a coarse-grained sandpaper, we pass in a circular motion around the entire table: along the table top, legs and tsarg belt.

Further, to better remove the old varnish and level the surface, you can use finer sandpaper. If you have a grinder, then the grinding process will be much faster.

When sanding, it is important not to oversand and not to grind to holes.

After grinding, be sure to clean the product from dust

Impregnation, restoration of the table top

If the table is made of natural wood, it is better to treat it with a special impregnation that will protect it from pests and diseases.

Leave parts to dry for a while. Next, we cover all the cracks with putty. After complete drying, the putty is sanded again with fine sandpaper

If the table is made of chipboard, you need to inspect the table top and determine if there are bubbles on the surface. If there is, then the veneer is peeling off.

This defect can be corrected by making an incision on the surface of the vial with a thin knife. After that, glue must be applied to the hole with a syringe. Then we take a regular iron and iron the surface of the table until the veneer sticks.

If the veneer chipped off on the edges of the worktop, we can cut a patch from a new piece of veneer, apply glue to it, apply it to the damaged part and iron again.

Painting

Getting started painting. We take paint or varnish, depending on your taste, brush and paint. You may need to paint two or three coats.

This is determined in the course of restoration work, depending on what kind of appearance we want to achieve.

Learn more