Yard Sale Furniture Refinish

Over the weekend our neighbors hosted a yard sale and had a set of 2 end tables and a coffee table for $20!  I picked them up with intentions to paint and give to our daughter, Julia, for her new apartment.

The tables were solid wood in a mission style which was a plus, but in pretty rough shape.  The tops were really scuffed up but the scratches were shallow and the rest of the pieces were in decent shape.

When I stopped at the hardware store, I thought I'd just take a peek at stains before paint and much to my surprise found JUST what I was looking for!

I picked up Minwax Polyshades in Bombay Mahogany Gloss.  According to directions, the finish simply needed to be sanded and 2 coats of Polyshades applied.  I think the red stain is very modern and it matches our other furniture quite well.  They also had an "Espresso" finish that was nearly black, which was super too!

I sanded everything down with a fine sanding block, spending most of my effort on the tops so the finish would be as even as possible.  Everything else got a good go-over until the finish was dulled.

I wiped the pieces down with a tack cloth to remove all of the dust.

THE ONLY THING I WISH I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY; was to use a bristle brush instead of a sponge on a handle.  I usually like these sponges things for staining, but totally didn't think through that Polyshades has polyurethane in it too.  So my disappointment lies in the fact that notches and small spaces turned fairly dark and the legs and top were not as dark.  I also feel as the sponge didn't give a very even finish, but it could just be user error.  I was watching Pierre and Henry the entire time!

Knowing this, I could go back and sand down the dark spaces again to lighten it all up, but it looks a little rustic and fun, so I decided to leave it. 

Needless to say, I need to go to some other yard sales to get end tables for Julia since I think these look awesome for ME!!

(Because of the extreme humidity in our area, I'm leaving the foil on the legs for a couple days to allow extra dry time!)