Had to Burn Another Piece of Furniture

 She's not much to look at, is she? The top was a total wreck with deep scratches in the veneer and the original stain was splotchy. Plus there were red marker scribbles. But she has incredible bones and with some loving care could be quite stylish again.

The first thing I needed to do was give the top a good cleaning and start sanding. After cleaning I gave the top a good inspection and discovered the veneer was quite thin, so I was going to have to be especially careful sanding so I didn't break the veneer.

It took an hour to get this far. That stain was not giving up easily and the scratches were really embedded into the veneer. Between my orbital sander, the detail sander, and hand sanding I was about to give up. I could just paint the top and call it a day, but I couldn't do it. The top could be beautiful I just knew it. I just needed to be a little bit patient. Which is not my style. 

Finally, the sanding was done and it only took an hour and a half for a 4'x4'x top. I was right, it was a beautiful top except those scratches did not come out. They went all the way through the veneer. I was going to have to fill them in with wood epoxy and that stuff doesn't always stain well. I had to come up with a new design for this table. It had to be burned. I love Shou Sugi Ban and I was hoping that if I went light enough on the burn it would hide the epoxy so that I could stain the top.

It did well enough, but there were still a few places that the epoxy could be seen. Staining was not going to be an option. The Farmhouse style I had originally planned on doing wasn't going to work.

I decided to ignore the top for now and scuff sanded the base and then primed it with Zinnser Shellac Primer. I wasn't sure if the legs were solid oak or MDF and figured painting would just be easier.

I always paint tables upside down because it makes getting all of the legs so much easier and It's less likely the top will get messed up. After priming I decided to use Behr Chalk paint in Tweed Coat like I did on the Console Desk. It's a lovely shade of gray, in my opinion. 

It looked great with the burned tabletop but since the epoxy was still showing I was going to have to paint the tabletop. I really didn't want to hide all that lovely grain so why not try a wash first. I took my favorite white, Dixie Belle's Sawmill Gravy and watered it down, and brushed it across the top. Next, I took Dixie Belle's Driftwood and Fluff, watered it down just a bit, and using an artist brush I lined some of the grain patterns as well as the epoxy repairs that were showing until they blended into the grain pattern. 

I repeated this process about four times over the course of a week until I got the look I desired. Then I added black and white wax all over the top in different layers and buffed until I achieved what I think of as a driftwood look. I didn't have that intention when I started but I love the outcome. I left it to sit for two weeks for the wax to cure so I could add a seal coat to the top of the table. I was using a water-based wax so once it was completely dry I could add a water-based polyacrylic on top of it. I really liked the black and white wax on the tabletop so I decided to add it to the base as well for some dimension and a lightly distressed look. 

This flip turned out completely different than what I had initially wanted and I am so glad that it did. Now, it's time to place it on Facebook Marketplace and find it a new home.