Meet Jenna, the dining table

Meet Jenna.

A beautiful, sturdy table that has served families for over a dozen years.  Years of snacks and meals, cookie decorating, valentine creating, and playdoh sculpting.  It didn't take that long to remove the marker stains and dried bits of leftovers, but it was a challenge.

I think the challenge was the weather.  For days on end, it was in single digits outside and below 30 degrees in my garage.  Even the portable propane heater couldn't tackle that much cold.  With that said, my Citrus Stripper didn't work very well.  I did two coats, and I could see all the original varnish still had not been removed.  So I had to whip out the belt sander and away we went.

All stripped clean

Jenna was due for a well-deserved makeover.  I wanted her to keep her rustic appeal, but add a bit of class.  After sanding down the top,  I used my favorite tools to distress the finish.  You can see an example of it in this post.   It's best to use a dark stain after distressing so the character of your work comes through.

Okay, here is where I apologize for the lack of photos.  Jenna was a beast -- in a very good way.  Four hands needed to move this table and most of the time I didn't have four hands.  So I could only take a few pics -- with my phone -- after putting her in my shop.  :(

I went with a creamy white homemade chalk paint for the apron and chunky legs, and then slightly distressed them.  I used polyacrylic to seal the paint and three coats of polyurethane for the top.  Her dimensions are 42" wide, 29.5" tall, 60" long, and 78" long with the leaf.

Loving those legs!

Jenna has just been delivered to Robin's Egg and she's looking forward to finding a new home where they love to play with glue and crayons.

Have a lovely day,

Debbie

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