Home DIY// Staining Furniture

I have always wanted to be a DIYer! I have a thousand & eighty things pinned on Pinterest that I just "have to try" and I don't really think I've made a dent! But a new house & currently limited budget for the non-essential household things has driven me to take on a few of the ideas I've had floating around for some time.

First up was some furniture for our living room.

We got rid of our coffee table awhile back in Germany after the 100th time that Greyson battled it with his face & lost. But, now that he's older & not falling around constantly, we decided to recover one! We have an old outdoor patio set that was given to us & part of it was broken in the move. Without having the whole set for the backyard, I decided to put the chairs on our front porch [which will also get their own DIY soon enough] & refinish the "coffee" table for our living room. It is still sturdy, just worn & dirty from being outside.

So I laid out each piece of the table & sanded it down with a sandpaper block. I honestly can't remember the grain of it, but it was about a medium. There wasn't a whole lot left on the wood to get off so it worked out well & came out smooth. Then applied the Ebony wood stain all over, except a few spots that won't get seen anyways since I was being impatient. And then finished with 3 coats of the clear satin sealant to give it a semi-shiny appearance. The table pieces dried for just shy of 72 hours before I put it together & we were up & using it in our living room!

It isn't perfect by any means & we will likely touch up a few spots that didn't take to the stain the same due to the wearing of the wood, but I can't complain much for my first staining project! And I learned the hard way that the stain will soak right through the rag & cover your hands in stain! Luckily, most of it came off with Dawn & lots of scrubbing, but my nails didn't fare too well!