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Vintage High Chair in Natural Wood and Warm White

  I love giving old pieces new life. This vintage wooden high chair was my latest makeover project. I am loving the end look, how about you? This solid wood cutie was found by my furniture scouting sister. I messaged the seller sight unseen I would take it. My Mom picked it up and delivered to my door. THANKS family for all your help!

Aubergine and Warm White Antique Table

 


These 3 antique pieces were dropped off to have a makeover. This sweet little table was the customer's grandmothers. It originally was the black stain still showing on the drawer knob but over the years it was redone. Years of use had it wobbly and ready to have an update. The customer wanted a bold change up. "I am not afraid of color." she says and this was the end result.

Let me show you what was done to create this new look. There are loads of photos and videos for this update. I even bought a tripod to help my video skills. :)

Harley, my shop dog always has to inspect new pieces when they come in. This table has such pretty curvy legs. I am excited to see the end result.


To get off the old and current finishes I started by stripping the entire table with EZ Strip paint and varnish stripper.


A good layer was applied to all the flat surfaces to start. Leave it to go to work until the finish starts to lift.


Watch my video above removing the EZ Strip paint and varnish stripper with a metal scraper.


I scrape the gunk into a recycled tray.


I use an empty stripper jug to collect the gunk.


Then the stripper was applied to the legs and scraped off too.


The stripper needs to be neutralized with water after all scraped. I use a scrub brush dipped in the water to get the bits of stripper left in any areas and clean off the wood surfaces.


Above is a video of this neutralizing step.


Here is the table all stripped, scrubbed and dried ready for the next steps.


Flipping the table upside down it was deconstructed totally.


Including this step to remove the lower shelf. Inset screws remain in the shelf portion.


You can see the old original black finish of days gone by and the broken edges on all the legs.


The old black finish remaining on the leg edges coming off with my handy Richard Tools small carbide scraper.


carbide scraping the edges video


Another angle of this carbide scraping process


Sanding the leg edges video which was the next step after scraping.


Videos showing the broken edges of the legs


One of the bigger chunks broken off the leg edge was glued and clamped. Other areas that were cracked with glued and clamped as well. All were left to dry well.


The table edges were scraped too with the carbide scraper. This tool is a must have if you refinish furniture.


Every surface was power sanded with my Festool rotex 90. The small head gets into these small places easily. I worked thru sandpaper grits 80-120-180.


The original plan for the table is to stain it a natural water based stain color so wood filler was used to fill the repaired cracks and missing chunks where needed. Above is one leg top on each side getting filled.


The other legs with their wood filled repairs drying. The v crevice areas missing were built up as well. If the plan was to paint I would choose Bondo to make these repairs as it is much stronger but the pink surfaces do not take stain.


 My carbide scraper from Richard tools was also used on table edges to remove any residual finish.


The Festool rotex 90 detail head was put on for the table edges to fit as close to the top nicely. The carbide scraper was used again to be sure the area at the top and edge junction were clear of all old finish.


This video shows carbide scraping on the under edge of the table top.


The detail head worked great for the drawer too. In the end I did take it completely apart as well, sanded all and glued and nailed back together.


drawer video


I used my 6" Dewalt orbital sander with 220 grit paper to go over all the surfaces. Above you can see the dark finish on one leg edge left to scrape and sand. In the right photo you can see the lovely wood grain sanded on 3 of the 4 legs with one to go.


All edges are hand sanded with a used 180 grit sanding disc.


The shows the leg edges in a video to better show the repairs.


To keep the V groove this super handy sander card worked perfect. It kept the angle with firm plastic card.


Whew here are the sanded pieces stacked. The sanding alone on this project has taken almost 5 hours.


The naturel stain went on the shelf portion as the test spot but the deep stains in the wood grain showed and did not give the look desired. I washed it all off and chatted with the customer about a plan B.


I did a sample board of the Dixie Belle silk mineral paint whites I had on hand. She popped by and chose endless shore from the selection. And paired it with the the top to be abuergine from the Dixie Belle Paint line.


The first coat of endless shore going on the lower shelf painting video.


The above video shows the legs being painted.


Another painting video showing how the below table edge was painted.


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The drawer knob was given 2 coats of white Dixie Belle BOSS to prevent the black or tanins left from popping thru the warm white. All lower pieces and all sides were painted 2 solid coats of this gorgeous color.


Between each coat the silk paint gets a light sanding with a Dixie Belle sanding sponge. This important step keeps this all in one paint super smooth.


The top was given a paint wash of the aubergine Dixie Belle Paint approximately 1:4 water. This video shows the mix.


This video shows how I applied the paint wash to the table top.


This is the first coat applied.


The layers continued sometimes with the help of a to keep the blend smooth. When each layer was dry they too were lightly sanded with a sanding sponge to keep smooth.


This is about layer 5 which is a deep rich royal shade of aubergine purple. 


To seal the top I mixed a bit of the purple paint in Dixie Belle satin clear coat. I applied it with an angled mini Dixie Belle synthetic brush. Once the first coat was dry, a second coat went on after a light sanding with a sponge sanding pad.


After 2 coats of clear on the top dried, the table was flipped over and reassembled.


The cute little drawer was rehydrated with Dixie Belle Big Mama’s Butta applied with a dedicated Dixie Belle La Petite brush.


And on the bottom side too.


And along the sides including the drawer runners. This makes the wood drawer slide smoother.


Flipped back over the entire table was sponge sanded and wiped.


After putting the base back together there was an edge that needed sanding, more filler and more sanding. Sorry my camera focused on the background :(


Using an angled Dixie Belle Artist Brush touch ups were made where needed including the edges of the shelf that now show once put back together.


The edge was repainted in a couple coats with the artist brush too.


A final clear coat was applied to the table top and this cutie is complete.


The chairs look perfect with it. (the chair tutorial will be coming soon)


table video tour








Links to the Dixie Belle products are for your convenience. My affiliation with this company does not increase prices on your end, your purchases via my links do however provide a small subsidy which allows me to keep providing these free tutorials. Thank you!

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Comments

  1. Love the transformation. The sound was better on some of the videos than others. Not sure why sign in to Google to access content kept popping up. Very detailed videos. The piece looks so good and reminds me of one I did, very similar,years ago.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your feedback. I will try and be sure to work on the sound ;) Lovely to hear you did a similar one.

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  2. Oh my goodness - stripping the old finish off of wooden furniture is such an undertaking! Your table turned out lovely! I especially love that you gave new life to an antique table.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I love a good strip :) and a good relove to bring old pieces back to life ;)

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