A Rustic Makeover For a Farmhouse Coffee Table

Hey there! Are you ready to hear all about this rustic makeover for a farmhouse coffee table? I’m glad you’re here. Stick around to hear all about my process, fails and frustrations included.

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A little backstory

Since then it has followed us for two major moves from CA – Texas and Texas – Missouri!

I have always loved the size, sturdiness, and shape of the table but over the past few years my style has been changing from farmhouse to rustic cottage.

It has also taken a beating over the years, thanks to 3 young children!

So it was time for a change!

I knew I wanted a rustic solid wood look in a neutral shade so my plan was to get it down to bare wood and then stain.

Let me tell you this process was not easy.

In fact it took all my free time over 4 whole days. And I wanted to give up at least 3 times.

The items I used to transform the coffee table from farmhouse to rustic

• Eye protection and gloves
• Cleaner
• Orbital sander
• Various grit sandpaper for sander
• Wood filler
• Paint Stripper
• Rags or an old T-shirt
• Scrapper or putty knife
• Mineral Spirits
• Soap and water
• Wood conditioner
• Paint Brush
• Wood stain – Special Walnut
• Polyacrylic top coat in ultra-flat
• Micro sander
• Drill
• Drill attachments

The process for refinishing furniture typically goes like this:

• Remove hardware or disassemble as needed
• Clean
• Dry
• Repair if needed
• Sand or Strip
• Clean
• Wipe dry
• Fine sand until smooth
• Pre-condition or prime
• Stain or Paint
• Fine Sand in between coats if needed
• Top Coat
• Fine Sand in between coats
• Wipe Down

The process begins

I wanted to achieve an all over stained look vs. the two toned look, I had to get the whole table down to bare wood.

The bottom half of the table had many layers of paint so I thought it best to strip this. *basically where it all went wrong*

The top of the table was already a dark stain so I just had to sand that part down.

However, I did not realize even after 10 years, that this table was in fact not solid wood! I would have bet my life that it was based on the appearance of the wood grain, the heaviness, and just the way it felt.

Turns out, too late I might add, that I didn’t realize until sanding too hard in some areas that there was some wood overlay on top of plywood or some other faux wood.

Super interesting and very frustrating as I now had some spots that no longer looked like wood.

Once the top was sanded down I decided to add some wood filler over those areas in hopes to blend them in.

The top was sanded and now I had to begin the paint stripping journey.

Spoiler alert, by the end of this I vowed to never strip paint from furniture ever again. It was not a positive experience for me!

I first started with CitriStrip I have heard so many positives about this product, it was anything but for me.

Maybe it was user error or my lack of patience but this did not make a dent in removing the layers of paint on this table.

Stripping Paint – The Frustration Sets In

I applied a generous amount over all the painted areas and let sit for 30 minutes.

Then I tested an area with the scraper and it barely came off.

Waited another 30 minutes and again it wasn’t really lifting off when scraped.

I decided to add more stripper and wait again.

I didn’t have time to wait so I tried my best at removing all I could. As you can see this table has intricate legs and grooves on the sides that make getting a scrapper in there near impossible.

The next day the only part of the table I was able to scrape with ease was the flat part from the under part of the table.

Since the Citristrip was not cutting it I switched gears to the Klean Strip premium stripper. This finally started making a dent in the layers of paint but again the angles of this table were so hard to reach.

I eventually gave up on the stripper all together and moved on to scrubbing the areas with mineral spirits to try and get the sticky nasty gooey paint residue off.

Once I lost my steam with the mineral spirits I switched to scrubbing with soap and water.

Then I let the remaining stuck on paint and goop dry out a little and then spent basically two whole days, trying to sand/scrub off what was left.

I used these attachments on my drill to get off everything else. Along with a razor blade and other scraping tools.

So don’t do what I do, do as I say! ha

I think if I would have started with the Klean Strip, applied A LOT of it, and let it sit for longer I would have had better results.

I also didn’t have the best tools for the job, as those angles on the table were basically imposable to scrape.

Looking back, I would have rather spent my time sanding allll that paint off. It would have been time-consuming for sure, but I don’t think I would have been nearly as frustrated with the process.

Now Back To The Fun Part – Staining

Once I got all the paint off and sanded down I was then able to finely sand everything with 240 grit to get it nice and smooth and ready for stain.

I wiped the table down to make sure there were no dust or debris leftover.

Once that was dry, about 30 minutes, I started staining.

Using an old T-shirt I worked with the grain carefully applying the stain in small sections then wiping off. The more product and the longer you leave on will darken the wood. I didn’t want a dark stain so I wiped off almost immediately. It takes time for the stain to absorb so it gets darker as time goes on.

The Finishing Touch

Once the entire table was stained I went back with my rag touched up any uneven areas and gently wiped off the entire table again.

The stain dried in about 4 hours and I started applying the polyacrylic top coat. This stuff has to be stirred really well to get the right outcome.

I applied 3 coats, sanding with 400 grit in between each coat, but did not sand after the final coat.

When using a top coat you want to be sure and stir the can first (don’t shake). Apply light brushstrokes with the wood grain, don’t over brush, and don’t apply too much.

It’s important to carefully inspect as you go that there are no drips or bubbles, use your paintbrush to clean up those areas. This product dries pretty quickly, so if you wait too long to touch it up, you will leave brush marks or indents in the top coat.

Once the table was dry my husband helped me bring it back inside and voila, a rustic makeover for a farmhouse coffee table was complete.

And within 5 minutes the kids were jumping from it to the couch.

Even though this was one of my tougher projects, I am happy I did it. Lessons learned and yes it’s far from perfect. But rustic is what I was going for and rustic is what I got.

Do you have any furniture refinishing fails? Or just DIY goofs you’d like to share? Leave them in the comments and we can laugh about it together.