Antique Table and Chairs Makeover

by Lynn Lilly, May 01 2019

I have been on the hunt for a great breakfast table that had character and could use a little love! I love flipping furniture and adding my own special touch. Last week I found an amazing antique pub table and chairs at a local thrift store that was over 100 years old. It definitely needed some love but I was excited to clean it up and give it a fresh look with the help of my Wagner Flexio 2000. I have used a few different Wagner Flexio models but I love 2000 to flipping furniture. I got a detail tip that works perfectly with the 2000 and was great for this piece Check out the makeover below and tips for refinishing your home furniture projects.

Supplies:

Wanger Flexio 2000
Wagner Flexio Detail Finish Front End
Latex Paint with a Matte Finish (I used PPG Serendipity 1230-2 and Thin Ice 1001-3)
Tarps
Painters Tape
Electric Hand Sander & Sand Paper
Furniture Wax
Gloves
Mask
Denatured Alcohol

The Flexi 2000 is great for furniture projects and larger projects like staining your deck/fence or painting a room. It literally will cut your painting time in half! Visit Wagner's website to watch a video and learn more about this model and all the other models to figure out which one will work best for your project.

Project Time: 1 day depending on the condition of the furniture piece. The majority of the time spent on this project was cleaning, repairing and standing the furniture. The painting only took about 2 hours tops.

Before:

Antique Table Makeover

DIY Vintage Table Makeover

Directions:

First, determine where you will work on your project. Work outside or in a well-ventilated room. I opted to turn our prop room at our studio into a paint room because we have a lot of pollen floating around outdoors and it has windy making it hard to paint.
Next tarp your paint area, to protect your area from dust and overspray.
Once your area is ready, inspect your piece. Since the table and chairs I was using was over 100 years old it needed a few repairs including screw replacements and cracks filled with wood glue.
Once all the repairs were made it was time to sand. There was a layer of wax and two coats of paint so it took it a little longer than expected to sand. The electric hand sander was key for the large areas and then I used a piece of sandpaper to get in the cracks and grooves.
When sanding you don't have to get every inch of paint off as long as you get the surface even and make sure all the loose and flakey pieces of paint are removed.
Next, use a clean dry cloth to dust off the furniture. Next, wet a dry cloth with denatured alcohol and do a final wipe down. Do not use water because it will wet the wood and you do not want to paint wet wood. If you do use water you will need to let the wood completely dry.
Because I had to do so much sanding there was a lot of dust and debris around the room. I removed the table and chairs and tarped the room with fresh plastic to avoid the excess dust getting back on the furniture during painting.
Next, I taped off the areas I wanted to paint first. For this piece I wanted the frame of the chairs and the legs of the table painted in the Serendipity color so I taped the seat of the chair and flipped the table over and taped off the top.
Next, it is time to assemble the Flexio 2000. Make sure you refer to the instructions when assembling.
Fill the material container about 3/4 full with paint. Secure the material container to the Flexio 2000.
I always test out the spray intensity before using it on my project. The project includes a test sheet of paper or you can use a piece of cardboard.
Refer to this guide when spraying so you set the air cap ears appropriately.
When spraying hold the gun 6-8 inches from the project and spray in sweeping motions.
The paint will determine how many coats you need. For this project, I need one full coat of paint and then did a few touch-ups once it was dry.
As soon as you are done painting make sure to read the cleaning instructions and fully clean the Flexio 2000.
Make sure to let the paint dry before you move on to painting additional areas. I let the paint dry for 4 hours to be safe.
Once the table was dry I flipped it over and removed the painter's tape.
Give the table top one more wipe with the denatured alcohol in case there was any excess debris on the floor.
Since I just wanted to paint the table top I took an excess piece of plastic and taped it as a skirt around the table with painters tape.
Next, I filled the material container 3/4 full with the paint in Thin Ice.
Once I tested out the paint on a scrap piece of cardboard I sprayed the top of the table. It took about 2 full coats of paint.
Remove the skirt once it is dry.
I applied a coat of wax to protect the surface of the table but this is not required.