Stencil and Stain -- end table makeover

Alright, here it is... My first blog post! Yahoo... Finally I can mark this off the list of things that I've always wanted to do :)

What a fun project to start my blog. A little history, I've had this small table forever. I think it actually belonged to a grandparent at some point, but it has been following me around for years. Not the prettiest table, but it sure is sturdy.

As you can see, it needed some love. Please notice the stain on the corner from a small fish tank!

First step: sanding. Yikes, this took forever. I finally realized that I needed the most coarse sand paper I could find to remove the old varnish.

After what seemed like forever, I started to see the actual wood.

Next, I applied a wood conditioner. This went on really easy and made the wood a couple of shades darker.

Now, here comes the fun part... Stencils! Since, I've never really done this before, I decided to do a practice run on the underside do the bottom shelf.

I centered the stencil, masked of the edges with painters tape and covered the legs with plastic bags. Then, I got out my handy spray paint.

This didn't turned out as well as I had hoped. The stencil was pretty flimsy and the spray paint bled under the stencil. Oh, we'll... Just a practice run and no one should ever see this part anyways.

Now, to stencil the top of the table. I was a little nervous, but I knew if I didn't like it that I could always sand it off and try again. I started by taping of the perimeter.

Next, I played around with the best placement of the stencil. Once I found a good spot for it, I secured the stencil with tape and covered the other exposed areas.

I did several light coats of a speckled silver spray paint. After a few mins to let the last coat dry, I held my breath as I pulled off the stencil.... It worked! Heavier stencil and lighter coats of spray paint = no paint bleed!

Then, I lined up the stencil and spray the next section. I'm beginning to feel like a pro!

I then pulled off the perimeter tape and I could start to see how cool this table could look.

I was curious what would happen if I slightly sanded the spray paint before I stained. So, i went back to my practice area and sanded the lower section. Next, I used my Minwax stain. Applied with a brush, waited 5-10 mins and wiped off. The verdict, leave spray paint as is. The sanding made it look a little fuzzy. Once again, happy I had a practice area!

I proceed staining the entire lower section.

I love the color, but I still wanted it a little darker. I would have to wait one day before I could apply the second coat. Because it was now dark, I also wanted to wait and stain the table top the next day when the lighting was better.

Rested and ready, I stained the table top and a second coat to the lower section.

Ooh, la la! I'm so thrilled with the way this is turning out. I had to wait another 24 hours before applying the second coat to the table top.

 (Insert Photo Here)

Now to apply the polyurethane. I chose Minwax in a satin finish. I did a light sand between three coats and viola! I old table with a new look!! I don't mind if the table sticks around for many years to come :)

 (Insert Finished Photo Here)