Day 20: an industrial sorta table top

Welcome to Transformation Thursday! It’s the one day of the week we all get together to celebrate getting stuff done. No matter if you’ve been coming around for months (or years), or this is your very first transformation rodeo – everyone is  welcome to link up your projects at the bottom of this post.

Ya’ll have seen my table a time or two. We made it back at the beginning of the year, and I love, love, love it. I love the size, I love the shape, I love the color. But, there were a few issues.

First, the new chairs we built didn’t exactly fit. If two of them were butted together in the middle they were wider than the table. Second, the color was horrible for blog & shop photos. As much as I’d like to say the blog never interferes with my home life, I really do need a place to take decent photos and the super light top was a horrible choice for backgrounds. Since my blog/shop is my income, then it truly was an issue. Third, the legs were too close to the edge of the table and tended to get in the way. And so, a new top was our decision.

Mr. SCC took seven 2x6s, shaved the edges off on the table saw, then ran them through the planer a couple of times to smooth them out. Then, he bolted them together with lag bolts and wood glue. Then it was time for the magic to happen… stain. We used DecoArt stains in Walnut & Ebony. These are easiest to use stains that I’ve ever seen. Water clean up – no worrying about your brushes – no gloves – sooooo easy. We mixed 2 oz. of Walnut & 1 oz. of Ebony for a dark stain, which is almost a dead match to the Jacobean we used on the floors.

I mixed the stains on a disposable plate, then added water by dipping my brush in the water and using the wet brush to pick up the stain. You can really water it down or pick up more stain – it’s very flexible. I brushed it on and Mr. SCC wiped it off with a wet cloth. {We did this at night, hence the really bad lighting.} We let it dry overnight and then I sealed it.

After it was completely dry, then I coated it with Helmspar poly, my favorite poly for every day surfaces because it protects against water. I did a coat, then let it dry. My trusty box fan cut my wait time considerably.

I did a coat, lightly sanded then applied another coat of poly. Let it dry 24 hours before normal use.

As much as I loved the original version, I’m even more in love with this one.

Lag bolts add a bit of industrial charm, don’tcha think?

She still has a hint of farmhouse flair….

The dark wood shows off fabrics so much better than the lighter did.

  Oh, and the chairs fit now, too – yay!

Thanks to DecoArt for supplying me with the stain for this project.

Sooooooo……. whatcha got? I wanna see – and so does everybody else! Please put your PERMALINK into the linky – and link back here so everyone can find all the great ideas. Please, please, PLEASE – pretty please DO NOT LINK TO A SHOP!!! Be sure to visit your neighbors and have fun – it is a party after all. *Please note: If you link up you are giving me permission to use your photos on my blog without contacting you (don’t worry, it’s only to show off your beautiful stuff!)*

Welllllllll…………. Let’er rip, tater chip!