Sounds like a great deal for you. And, glad you are able to fix it. IMHO...if

it is solid Cherry it would be a "sin" to paint it. But...just me....I love the

beautiful woods (Cherry, Oak, Maple, etc.) to be unpainted and just show their

own beauty. Congrats and good luck with your work.

Uptown,

I have never done a fix quite like this so hopefully I will be able to fix it. The approx 3x5 table was $35 including delivery so to me worth taking a chance.

I agree that some pieces look beautiful on their own and not painted although I chalk painted a china cabinet some years ago and it turned out beautifully, I think for me it will hinge on how well the refinishing goes, there are a few scratches on the top and as I said, poly has always been a challenge, I envy those with the skill to put on a flawless finish.

Good luck, Lucille. I don't have that skill or knowledge...but sure love seeing

pieces that have been "rescued". Hope we can see a picture when you are

done.

Lol! I have big ideas, but not necessarily the skill. I have painted a few things with success and can reupholster a few things, but am not advanced enough to do what you are proposing.

Good luck with your project. I hope it turns out cute.

Idstarr thank you!! I DO have questions!!:

There are scratches in the top so I am going to sand down. Is there any advantage to applying a stain at that point?

What do you use to wipe on? I think the last time I did this I just used a cut up old t shirt.

Your method sounds like it will avoid the ugly brush marks and bubbles.

Sounds like a pretty piece. Any photos? (I'm mostly gardening lately)

Not photo ready, it is upside down with one leg off and waiting for the bolt delivery.

I refinished an old cheap parawood table I had bought from Kmart in the 90s. I ended up buying new chairs for it and it turned out quite well. We love it anyways.

idstarr, thanks for your tips! Lucille, I have both a side table and chair that were my grandmother's (1920s or 30s) that need repair and refinishing. The chair had a break that was clumsily repaired, and the mahogany table is flaking/alligatoring its original finish. The price quoted by a pro was way too much for me so I will take it on; yet I haven't had the nerve to start.

Raee, I wonder if it might be a good idea to get a garage sale cheapie piece and practice? If for some reason I screw up the repair all I lose is the small amount I paid for the table, but you have something you treasure.

Idstarr is your preference for the gloss poly?

Painting a cherry table would qualify as a crime against humanity.

I would not stain cherry. I would use lacquer and let the color come back.

Lucille - you need to use gloss poly for all the coats prior to the last 2, no matter what level of luster you want the piece to have. The additives to make the poly something other than gloss interfere with the building up of the finish. I usually apply the mixture with an old, clean rag and just seal the rag in a plastic container between coats. My preference for the final coats is usually gloss due to the durability, but I've used semi-gloss with good success also.

Oops-just found your questions. The choice to stain or not to stain is entirely yours. If the piece is darker in color, you may need to apply stain to the areas you sand to blend the colors together.

I just use an old rag to apply the mineral spirit/poly mixture.

That's a good idea, Lucille, and I actually have a table in the basement that I can use.

No, NO. Do not try to stain Cherry. It is notoriously difficult to do. It blotches and looks horrible and the pores take up too much and so on. Major mistake. It oxidizes really quickly and reacts to sunlight. Don't put anything on your freshly sanded top and leave it there with any light because a light spot will be where your item was. Put your finish on and let it recolor naturally. It doesn't take that long.

I used to work for a furniture refinisher in the SF bay area.

I haven't done any recently, but it takes a lot of patience and numerous coats as Idstarr described. Sanding is done with sandpaper that is super fine and doesn't feel like sandpaper. That is how I got mirror like finishes on several pieces after I had done others that were okay. I think the sanding is very important.

Lukkirish

I found the thread with pictures of the table you refinished and it is AWESOME!!! How did you prepare the table except for the top, for the paint?

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/update-refinished-table-done-pics-dsvw-vd~2647205?n=33[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/update-refinished-table-done-pics-dsvw-vd~2647205?n=33)

I have Parson's chairs with taupe covered slipcovers, the chairs are comfortable and for now the slipcovers stay, they are lined and standing up to many many washings for the grand baby's crumbs and drips. The floor is brown, the slipcovers are brown, the table is brown, I'm wondering if a partially white table might brighten the area? Why did you choose the Behr instead of chalk paint?

Thank you so much Lucille, I appreciate that!!

I guess with the bottom, I got off pretty easy because as you can see, it was in reasonably good condition. I just sanded down the original white paint, first with a medium grain paper and then with a really fine paper so everything was good and smooth. I didn’t worry about stripping it because I was going to be using white again. That Behr color is the same color we used for all of our trim and doors and I love it! It’s a very soft and creamy white, so when I found that cabinet, I paid the consigment store to repaint it and requested they use the same color. (They had done a crackle treatment on it that was nothing short of hideous). I love the shabby worn out look but didn’t know if it was right for the room. I went solid first knowing I could sand down the paint here and there if I wanted to age it a bit, but when it was finished I was smitten with it just as it was. Then I went on a chair hunt and found these and thought they were perfect. (Their seats are walnut and the white is a perfect match to the table)

I think going with the white bottom would be really lovely with the cherry wood top especially when you consider how much poly work redoing the bottom would take.

If you were going for a color that leaned more towards vintage, like a teal or worn red, using one of the specialty paints would make sense, but for white, unless you want that old worn look, I really don’t think it’s necessary, if anything, I’ve found that the latex wears better especially with the table. (It’s a semi gloss and easy to clean)

I ended up doing the top of our table a couple of times because I didn’t care for the stain I had used. I also had a couple of poly spots that I didn’t like. For those I used some steel wool to get the spot out of the poly and then I polyed back over it but I didn’t mix it with anything I just used straight non yellowing poly. It’s all trial and error, right?

Also, you’re probably already aware but I’ll throw it out there anyways, cherry wood darkens over time, so in the beginning, you should avoid keeping any kind of runner or mat on it for longer periods of time or you’ll have a permenant reminder of them being there. :c)

Today we took the finished bed to her. "How did you spend your summer Mrs. Y?"!!

She lives in a 1920's built brownstone that has been chopped up into four SMALL apartments. Her bedroom is two SMALL rooms. The full size bed barely fits and it case you are wondering we found out full when the bed was made is shorter than full mattress now!! DH will have to build her a box as the box spring was no way going in this frame!!!

Arcy_gw, why not just use slats and no box? It looks very nice, You did a good job! but I liked the original a lot too.

Friday's project. It's an old Woodley's piece we purchased off CL(54" table). The owner said he'd paid $800 for it, maybe 10 years ago. Wrought iron and wood. It was badly dinged up where the iron chair legs hit the wood base. Then dings all along the top & a big scrap. There were 2 broken chair legs welded back together. $50! Touched it up & it looks like new!

Raee--that is what you see now, but she designed it so the the mattress would sit a bit higher. She is almost 6ft. She doesn't want her feet trapped by the foot board, and she wanted to be able to sit on the end of the bed. It's sort of a crime. All the "fancy" work is on the back!! She flipped most of the boards so they would be flat. It was quite a surprise how much her taste has changed. In college she would have wanted it cleaned up a bit but basically as it was.

The bolt for my table leg arrived, but still too much wiggle space. The cure for this is to glue a hardwood dowel piece in the space and drill through that when putting in the bolt. Dowel arriving today.

This is a learning experience.

Good luck Lucille. You should be able to get this fixed yet.

The table leg repair went beautifully if I do say so myself. The rest, not so much. It appears that someone tried to finish the top and then someone dragged it table side down, the scratches were deep. I sanded the scratches down somewhat and am doing a gel stain and poly finish on top and possibly painting the side, and tablecloths. To get the scratches and finish all sanded off is more than I want to do inside an apartment.