The other day as I was making my thrift store rounds I saw an old table sitting outside of Bishop’s Attic. It had lots of stains on it as though someone was raised in a non-coaster family (oh, the shame!)

It was only $5 so what was there to lose by buying it?

I could tell it was a solid construction made with nice wood. Maybe teak, cherry and walnut in there? I’m not sure. But when I asked my husband if he’d help me refinish it I was surprised to find how easy it was. All we did was refinish the top of the table as the legs were still in good shape. We now have a gorgeous wooden table and all we really paid for was the wood finish.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Random orbital sander
• Sandpaper in grades of 80-220
• Tack cloth
• Emmet’s Good Stuff wood finish
• Shop paper towels

Directions:

1. Remove the top from the legs. Using 80 grade sandpaper sand down the tabletop with the orbital sander. Use circular motions and sand the top evenly all over. Sand the sides of the tabletop too, if you’re able to.
2. Repeat this step with the next finest grade of sandpaper until you’ve reached 220.
3. Hand sand any bits or corners you weren’t able to get with the orbital sander. I just eyeballed it.
4. Use a piece of tack cloth to remove all sawdust from the tabletop.
5. Pour a big glug of wood finish onto the tabletop and spread out evenly with a shop paper towel. Get all over and around the sides. Get it underneath the edge of the table. No need to finish the whole bottom part, but get some around the underneath edge. It should instantly look amazing.
6. Make sure the finish is evenly distributed and not applied so heavily that it drips or gloops.
7. After 3 minutes use a dry paper towel to wipe the table with the grain to remove any excess oil. If you go against the grain it might look streaky.
8. Wait four hours and repeat steps 5-7.
9. You could stop here or apply another coat if you’d like. I only did two coats.
10. Screw the top back onto the legs and presto! New table!