About a month ago I found this little beauty at a flea market while we were in Albuquerque for the weekend. Ok, I use the term beauty a little loosely, but I saw some potential. I was able to talk the guy down from $45 to $15.
The first step was taking off those outdated pulls. Originally I was thinking I may keep them and reuse them for something else down the road, but after taking about 15 minutes to remove just one, I decided it wasn’t worth it and once I finally got them all off, into the trash they went.
Then I couldn’t wait to use some stripper to take off all the finish. After she was stripped down to her birthday suit, it was time to tackle those southwestern style boards along the bottom. I used a hand saw and cut along the sides where the boards joined the table legs, then I took my hammer and hit it till it popped off; I highly recommend that if you have any pent up aggression.
The more streamlined after (my sweet husband cut those protruding nails for me with a metal cutting blade):
Then, all that was left to do to really erase all southwestern signs was cover up a piece in front with some leftover molding. Measure twice (or thrice), cut once.
So here she is, all ready to be stained. At this point she has been stripped, given a mineral spirits wipe down, sanded, and streamlined. Doesn’t she already look much better?
Then I got busy spray painting some old knobs I already had with ORB.
Because the wood was old and had some wear and tear, I prepped before staining with a pre-stain wood conditioner, then after two coats of stain that I also already had, there she is. It’s hard to believe that it’s the same piece, huh? 
3 Responses to refinished side table
Nice work!
That is so cute Justine! The molding addition is brilliant. Thanks for posting the step by step, and it turned out great.
Wow! It looks amazing! You did such a great job!