Farm Table with a Painted Runner

Happy Thursday! Farm Tables never go out of style, most likely because they come in so many different styles. From rustic, to modern; stained to painted. Today I’m bringing you a farm table that has little bit of each. Introducing the farm table with a crimson red and off-white painted runner…

Here’s how this solid wood farm table looked when I first picked it up. It was covered in deep scratches from years of use – a testament to the many family dinners that took place here. Being solid wood though, a thorough sanding smoothed the majority of them right out.

Underneath, however, the wood was very dry. Staining it wasn’t an option since the base, while also solid wood, was a different wood than the top – which would have resulted in different tones.

So I opted to prime and paint for a more modern farm table style.

The primer and paint helped to smooth out the top even more, but the nature of the wood didn’t allow for a completely smooth surface. I decided I needed to add some color depth and layered on washes of pecan and dark walnut Minwax stains. Using Frog tape (I won’t use any other), the runner was taped off and painted.

The result was rustic, yet a bit too brown my my taste.

Refusing to give up on this solid wood piece of art, I then layered on General Finishes Pitch Black Glaze. I love this product. You can darken just about any finish as much or as little as you like depending on how long you let it sit and have much you wipe off. (Yes, it can be used of either paint or stain!) I wanted an almost black finish with the brown tones just barely showing through, so applied the glaze to one entire side of the table, then went back and wiped it off with a soft rag.

The dark contrast between the table and the crimson red & off-white painted runner was perfect.