Finally got time last weekend to complete another little project I have been meaning to do for quite a while and that is to sand back and recoat our coffee table.
The kids were doing their nails on the coffee table and spilled a bottle of nail polish remover over the top surface – great!! This ate into the table and removed a large patch of varnish on the surface of the table. Plus some other minor damage where D1 tried to save the day and her little sister by cleaning it up but only managed to spread it further. Needless to say, the missus was not terribly happy that her coffee table had been ruined and we had been since living with a tablecloth over it as it looked terrible.
So with some time on my hands one fine weekend I trotted off to Bunnings yet again to find a solution and a couple of sausage sandwiches. I am really beginning to think I go to Bunnings for the sausage sandwiches and then find something I could do while I’m there.
Anyway off I trotted to the paint department and was totally confused as to what I needed for the job at hand, one of the staff recommended. So being a novice I took his word for it. I also got some varying grades of sandpaper.
After regaining my strength having been fed and watered at Bunnings it was now time to start the task.
I got the missus to help me carry the table out the front of the house to the grass verge so I could sand it. Having done that I went back inside to get my electric sander etc. however what I hadn’t allowed for was, in Sydney if you leave something out on the footpath people think it’s up for grabs. So when I come back out I find my neighbour and another couple in a discussion about who saw our coffee table first…
I had to announce to the disappointment of both parties that
“Eh sorry lads but its not actually getting chucked out I’m just repainting it”.
And so my work began, I sanded the top and gave it a coat of varnish. I now discovered a new problem that as the table was wet and sticky it couldn’t be carried inside and if left outside as evidenced earlier it was likely to be taken. Crap – ah well nothing for it only to bring a chair and a book out and stand guard in our porch for potential table poachers.
After a chapter or two or when the first coat had dried, I lightly sanded the top of the table and recoated it. By this time I was getting into my book and decided to continue the whole process outside. Plus I found it quite amusing glancing over my book as passersby eyed up the table with “I wonder if that’s getting thrown out eyes”…. especially as the table got glossier and glossier with each coat of varnish.
I repeated the process 3 or 4 times lightly sanding and applying more varnish and the final result looked as good as new and the colour blended in perfectly with the rest of the table.
All in all a very satisfying and amusing days work…plus the missus is happy with her “new” table.
