Table : Done!

OK, so after about 3 months, my kitchen table is finally finished!

This table has been in my family since before I was born, I think my uncle gave it to my parents as a wedding gift. Its an old cable spool that my uncle stained and sealed. He also put rope in the space between each board so nothing would get into it. I can remember as a kid I would sit under the table and count each board in the barrel section. Of course I never thought to mark my starting point so I would make circles around the table just counting. After a few moves, the table found its way to my dad's barn, where he used it as a type of work bench. Oil stains and dirt mixed with the wood and over time it just started to become an "outside" table. In the summer we would still use it because it made a good place to set the condiments for a BBQ.

Once my husband and I moved into our new apartment, dad asked if we needed anything. Oddly enough, we had gotten rid of our old table because it was way too big for our 1 bedroom. Dad asked if I wanted the spool table. I had always told him never to get rid of it because I wanted it, and so I instantly said yes. My husband and his cousin were helping us move in, and both of them gave me an odd look when they saw me rolling the tabletop in. Covered in dust and dirt, it looked like my husband wasn't going to let me bring it in the house. I simply said "you'll like it once its refinished" and rolled it in.

It sat in pieces behind my living room couch for the first month, and slowly each piece got sanded down to the bare wood. This is what it looked like after my husband started sanding it.

The 2 boards to the right are what it looked like before we started. Paint and oil and dirt had accumulated while in the barn, but it already looked better with just a sanding. After sanded down, it took me a while to decide what stain to use. Finally I chose a homemade stain, the "barn wood" or "aged" look. I bought extra fine steel wool and some white vinegar and put them in a jar for 24 hours. I was skeptical that it would work and tested it on the underside of the tabletop. (hidden once assembled)

This is a comparison to the natural wood (right) and the barn wood stain (left). It was slightly darker than I wanted, but it looked nice enough, so I applied it to the rest of the table pieces and let them dry overnight.
The stain was dry to the touch within about 20 minutes but i gave them time to dry outside because of the vinegar smell. Once dry you really couldn't tell it smelled at all.

Next was the finish, and that was what really made it all come together.

I chose a matte finish from rustoleum, and probably should have gone with a satin instead. I wanted minimal shine, and the matte didn't require sanding between coats. Looking back, a satin probably would have been just as good with fewer coats. I gave each piece 3 coats of the matte for extra protection.

Below is the bottom of the table. I started staining it then decided it didn't need it there because no one was going to see it, and I should save it for the rest of the exposed parts.

After I sealed this piece I almost decided to strip the whole thing and just seal it! The top is the stain and one coat of seal, and the bottom is the natural wood with one coat of seal. I REALLY like the natural wood's richness!

It was a little difficult to get a good shot of the tabletop once I was finished, because the sun was so bright, but here is the best shot I have:

See the steel circle in the picture above? My husband had the good idea to place a scrap board under it to keep anything from falling into it. I managed to get a quick shot of that, he works so fast.

Assembling it was the hardest part, but once the first few boards got set the rest was pretty easy. Doing this upside down was the best way. No pictures of that, sorry. I was the one holding up the bottom piece so the barrel pieces could slide into their grooves. The top and bottom pieces both had a matching circular groove, and the barrel boards went there. 5 steel rods keep the tension on these boards, and this makes the table. Above you can see the grooves and rods, along with our scrap board.

In this (really dark) picture you can see how it all goes together. My dad also gave me the chairs, the same set from when I was little. Everything is still in pretty good shape too.

Like my Easter decor? I found the chocolate bunny-bank at the thrift store, along with my blue Ball jar. The flowers are from my wedding decor and the "chick" feeder is a creation my grandmother Coogler came up with. It has Easter M&Ms in it, and some pretzel M&Ms too. They are my new favorites. You can tell the family likes this thing because its almost empty!

Well! That was a long post, are you still here? :) I hope so, I have more to come. I am trying to make myself stick to more of a schedule now, so hopefully that means more time to blog. Once I find my camera's conversion card I may start some video blogging to save time. Not sure yet.

Stick around, I'll be back soon with more to type!