Recycle Me End Tables

When I moved into my apartment a year ago I had little furniture. I have a hard time finding pieces in local stores that I like and an even harder time buying things made in China, so all of a sudden I found myself with a new hobby of furniture refinishing. One day at a local salvage store I saw these 2 end tables standing on top of each other. Dusty and dirty, they were crying out for a new home. Oh the potential, and just what the empty living room needed. This is what they looked like straight home from the store at $10 a piece.


Love that orange 70's surface. Good shape I thought, plus I can be creative with the tops.

Unfortunately I have no during photos, here was the process:

1. Washed them with household cleaner, let dry off
2. Sanded all flat surfaces with the hand sander, (borrowed from my bf at the time - now I have my own sander. I love my tools, thanks Iron Chef!)
3. Hand sanded the curves (at the top rims) with multiple grits until all of the former poly and stain was gone
4. Wiped them lightly with mineral spirits, to dissolve the saw dust and prep them for staining
5. Applied 1 coat of Minwax oil-based Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner, let dry overnight (the directions say to apply the stain within 2 hours but it comes out better if you let it dry at least overnight)
6. Applied 2 coats of Minwax Wood Stain in Ebony, wiping excess off after 15 minutes (a step I forgot on my first piece, the stool - more about that later), letting dry for a few days in between coats
7. Finish with 2 coats of Minwax oil-based polyurethane, lightly sanding with 220-grit paper in between
   

The result.


For the tops I decided to cut 2 pieces of art paper to size to cover the damaged orange surfaces (although they do look good in the fall). Then I had glass cut to fit the tops, over the paper. I tried cutting my own glass from old windows, but it broke twice. At Christmas I put old cards under the glass as a collage and I can change the paper color anytime. I might put photos under there soon to change up the look and have thought about painting the surface, but this is good for now.

I love how they came out. Nice and shiny and you see some of the variations in the grain though the stain still. I chose black because I have a hard time picking out other wood stain colors and I thought it would be nice and universal. Every room needs a touch of black.

Here is the other one, next to the chair (more about her later too).

Side tables for the living room, check.