When we first bought this piece of walmart furniture, it matched the entertainment center we had, as well as the overall style of our living room, which was “Early American Attic.” Now that we’re ‘all growned up’ (debatable) and ‘making money’ (again, debatable) our style in the living room has evolved.

When refinishing any piece of furniture, what finish was still there, needed to be removed. This was pretty easy to do using my Dewalt Random Orbital Sander. With only an 80grit paper, I was able to quickly remove the finish. I also quickly hit the hard to reach places with my Black & Decker Mouse sander. That sander has some parts you can tack on, and by itself, reaches harder to reach areas for sanding.

I did this out in the driveway with a box fan blowing the dust away from the work area. Put the fan so it pushes, rather then pulls the dust, saving you one fan motor. Been there, lost that fan, this time I learned from my mistake. The other thing I did, since I was working on a paved drive was to bring out my floor mats from the shop. This gave me a soft place to rest the table while sanding, as well as a place for my knee.

Making this piece match our entertainment center was a touch more then just painting it black. The slats on the end that made it distinctly “mission” needed to go. In the end it was easier to pick up a sheet of luan (very thin plywood capable of easily taking paint) to cover up the slats. With a little observation, the other detail that made our entertainment center what it was, is it’s use of molding to add a little “architectural detail.”

After sanding, dismantlement, further sanding, and reassembly, I added the panels on either side of the slats, and a little molding around the edges. Using a foam roller for super smooth surfaces, I painted it black. I chose a rustoleum flat black for this application. Figuring on how abusive we are to the table top, I wanted something excessively strong. I gave the top 4 coats throughout the weekend and the rest of the table 2. Between initial sanding and first painting, I wet down the entire table with a damp cloth. This does two things, first it wipes off all of the dust so you don’t trap it in your paint, second it stands up any little fibers of wood that didn’t sand off in the first hit.

You can choose to sand off those fibers, or paint. I chose to paint, only because I knew I was going to hit the first coat with a mild abrasive to smooth it between coats. Something I did between a few of the coats of paint.

Placing it in the living room, it matches pretty well. I don’t have the equipment to make it match 100%, mainly the clean room and sprayer apparatus, but this table looks good enough to fit in. It’s also nice to refinish it, instead of throwing it out and buying something else. It saves us money (estimated cost of project hit at $20 of materials), and saves the environment one more thing in the landfill.

The complete ‘reno.’ This wasn’t the only project I worked on this weekend. It got multitasked with another piece of furniture that I’ve been making from scratch. I’ll have more on that a little later. This piece, did give me a chance to try out some techniques before it was a more ‘costly’ mistake.