Refinishing my Table Project

So I have this Kitchen table.  I inherited it and I don't like it very much.  I thought about just buying a new one, but I don't have any money, and this one is really a good quality table. I just don't like it.  So I decided to refinish it.  I didn't have anything to lose because It wasn't my favorite anyway.  So, here is the before pics.  I forgot to take them before I hauled it to the garage.  But it is this orange oak look.  Don't mind the messy garage.

Fg

So I started reading how to refinish a table.  There is plenty of resourses out there.  I decided to Strip the old finish off.  I used some citristrip to do that. It sat for about 7 hours to let it do its thing.  Then I scraped all the finish off.  It is super cool to strip this gross black stuff and see what is below.  Some people recommended to just sand the finish off.  But I kindof liked the stripper idea because then my sanding was less.  

So after stripping, I had to wipe it down with Mineral Spirits.  This step was also only suggested by some.  But it got off the excess stripper and finish.  Because if you have excess old finish, the new stain won't look right.  

Then I used Wood Conditioner.  This was only used by a few websites too.  But I think it made the wood look much better.  

 Finally it is time to Stain. I used this Dark Walnut stain from Minwax.  Here is the table with the stain on.  I wiped it off and here was the result.  I decided to make it darker because most recommended two coats.  So I added another coat.  Then another for good measure.  Because then I was out of stain and that had to be the color.

 This is the color after the stain. I absolutely love it.

I also used some protective layer on the top of the stain so it would hold up to all the wear and tear.  That's why the top is shiny in the below pictures.  That was three coats of painting it on and drying.  

Now onto the base.  There was a million suggestions for what to do.  Most people just painted the base white.  Some used Chalk Paint which is expensive and others didn't.  I decided to just use  Behr paint with primer.  If you buy it over July 4, you get a $10.00 mail in rebate.  All over that.  So, I washed it really well (probably the first time since we have had it)  and sanded it so the paint would stick.  I had to paint it a bunch of times because the stain would bleed through.  I didn't have that trouble on the top because I took off the stain.  Most of the suggestions were to use primer.  So I just used more of my primer paint.  I think finally I got all the spots covered.

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 That is the final product for the table.  The pics are not very good because I realized I didn't have an after pic.  Here it is.  I really am proud of myself.  I can't believe I actually did that.