So are you ready to refinish your brown-stained dining room table and update it to a more modern color scheme? Today, I’m going to show you exactly how to achieve the perfect driftwood gray for your dining table using layers of different color stains.
Here’s how this Thomasville dining table looked when I brought it back to my workshop. The wear and tear was so extensive it had gone through the clear topcoat and the brown stain down to the bare wood in spots.
A few hours of sanding took care of that though.
The entire base had to be hand-sanded. There were just too many groves in those legs to use the rotary sander.
The base was painted in a few coats of General Finishes Lamp Black Milk Paint and then clear coated with Minwax Wipe-On Polyurethane. For the most part it was a pretty quick process. The tabletop was another story.
The top started off pretty straightforward. I began with two coats of Rustoleum’s Driftwood stain. This is now called Sunbleached.
Allow the stain to dry overnight.
The gray stain goes on pretty solid. In order to add depth and a natural uneven appearance (like real natural driftwood), I then wiped on Dark Walnut stain. For this step, use very little stain. Wipe it on in the direction of the wood grain and immediately wipe off as much of the stain as you can with the same rag.
Allow the stain to dry overnight.
The next day, wipe on a white wash stain in the direction of the wood grain. I used Minwax’s White Wash Pickling Stain. Use a little more than you did with the Dark Walnut, but also blend and wipe it off just as you did with the Dark Walnut.
Allow the stain to dry overnight.
At this point, evaluate the color of the tabletop. If you love it, proceed with adding a clear coat.
What happened with this table though was dark shades, whether they were from the original old stain or the Dark Walnut I just added, bled through darker in spots. So I then went back over the table with two more coats of the Driftwood stain.
The final result is a tabletop that shows layers of gray, white, and brown shadings, just as you’d see on natural driftwood that’s been bleached by the sun and salt water.
Do you remember the chairs I refinished a few weeks ago? They pair perfectly with this table. Some gray or natural color fabric on these seats would work really well.
I do have the plywood, foam, and padding for the seats, but though the buyer may want to choose their own fabric.
These photos were taken before the final clear-coat was applied to the tabletop. That will be done tomorrow and will have a bit of a sheen to it. While I love the flat appearance, I’ve found that water-based flat and matte clearcoats do not hold up well enough for a dining room table.
This Oval Driftwood Dining Table is now for sale in Entri Ways’ online Shop.
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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to products I use myself.
What a gorgeous makeover! I would have been tempted to stop at the sanding point! Raw wood gets me going, lol. Pinned! Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday! Hope to see ya next week!
Kim
Thank you Kim. Love all of the inspiration at your MadeInADay link parties!
Love how you re-did and made that table&top come alive, such a wonderful job you did. Whomever buys that set will be very lucky to have in their home.
Love the gray, am person who needs color in their home, have come to really dislike brown, brown and more brown, yuk. Sorry brown lovers. Gray can be a gorgeous neutral also.
After more than 8 yrs. of living in our single wide mfg. home we painted our living room a very light gray. Took me years to decide what color (which was holding up starting to do any painting). Our living room was dark, facing East and an old dark couch we’d been given was making me crazy. Felt like a big dark hole in room along with vinyl paper on walls, yuk!.
We painted the living room then painted couple tables and other pieces in room, what a difference. Got rid of that awful couch for contemporary style in light upholstery from Habitat which is a hide-a-bed in very good shape. When we got done didn’t look or feel like previous room which was what I’d had in mind when we started, even Mr.Furry liked room much better.
I disliked our l/r so much before painting wanted to sell place for another but now am happy to stay in it. Good thing since we can’t afford anything else living on SS, is expensive here for us.
Bloggers like yourself inspired me so much, got so many ideas. Other colors in room are shades of aqua, little bit of coral and white. Our living room has so many items from thrift stores, I make our art from printed out images and quotes and frame with thrift store frames, repainted, restyled.
Thanks to wonderful bloggers like yourself we have a room we can be proud of and happy with now. Feel like one of best things about finding blogs are the ideas and friendships have gained along with so much inspiration.
So wonderful to hear your story. Your color and furniture transformations sound fantastic. I’m a true believer that only you can choose the colors for your home. Not a decorator or a friend. They can help blend them once you choose, but only you because your home is unique to you. And I love that you knew how to repurpose furniture you already had and find other pieces that fit your budget and make them fit into your home. Did you get a copy of my free ebook “11 Ways to Find Free (and Close-to-Free) Furniture”? Sounds like we shop the same so it may offer some additional ideas for you. Thanks for following along.
Being a girl on the coast, I adore all things beachy and the driftwood finish one of my favorites. Good to know about the matte topcoat durability or lack thereof , as that’s what would be my first choice! Thanks for sharing it at #fridaysfurniturefix!
Hello,
This is the blog is given perfect driftwood gray dining table is awesome.thank you for share this blog