This project was different in that it wasn’t to build something new but to give something new life. The clients wanted to refinish their kitchen table and chairs and renew them for the next phase of life. The set was purchased in the early 1990s and served the family’s kitchen through three kids, several dogs, and now a few grandchildren. The clients wanted a bold, modern transition for the set. We disassembled the table and leaves and sanded everything down to bare wood. A few chairs needed stretchers put back in place and one seat pan was split down the middle. All of the table’s hardware was cleaned and scrubbed to remove the rust and given a new coating of oil.
The clients wanted to have a contrasting look so we refinished the table top and seat pans with Rubio Monocoat’s Black, which darkened the field of the oak and tinted the grain lines black. The table’s skirt and base, along with the chair backs and legs, were finished with Renner Italia’s 851 urethane wood coating tinted to Behr’s Black. We chose the Renner system over an acrylic urethane paint for its durability and hardness. The Renner coating gave everything a uniform semi-gloss sheen while not filling in the natural wood grain of the white oak.
