This week turned out to be more intense than I thought. The goal was to buy the stain that I desired my coffee table to be as well as stain the table. I found that choosing the stain was a lot harder than I imagined. I went to Home Depot thinking I would walk in and walk out with the perfect stain. Note that I thought it would be one container; however, when I showed up I found out that there were a few elements that I did not consider. Apparently I needed more than just stain, I needed polyurethane. The workers at Home Depot were kind and willing to help, but I turned down their assistance because I believe I should have gone in more prepared. I went home and looked at my pins on Pinterest. In order to learn more about stains and polyurethane I referenced the following blog: Tip-Top Table.
I learned that it would be ideal if I bought an oil-based stain as well as oil-based polyurethane that is semi-gloss. I am glad that I read this blog before proceeding because Katie (the blogger) mentioned that her finished product had yellow spots which were the areas that she did not sand well enough and still had the previous polyurethane. As a result, I felt that I might re-sand my table again before applying the stain but unfortunately I ran out of sanding paper so the plan was to buy sanding paper when I bought the stain and polyurethane.
I learned that it would be ideal if I bought an oil-based stain as well as oil-based polyurethane that is semi-gloss. I am glad that I read this blog before proceeding because Katie (the blogger) mentioned that her finished product had yellow spots which were the areas that she did not sand well enough and still had the previous polyurethane. As a result, I felt that I might re-sand my table again before applying the stain but unfortunately I ran out of sanding paper so the plan was to buy sanding paper when I bought the stain and polyurethane.
I went to Home Depot this time knowing what I needed. I went to get the sanding paper first I picked out the DIABLO Brand. I knew I would need a coarse grit (60 grit) and a medium grit (100 grit) they were $2.97 each. Next I went to get the stain. My vision was to have my coffee table be a dark color so I picked out MINWAX Wood Finish Jacobean which cost $8.12 including the paintcare fee. After choosing the stain I went to look at the polyurethane. Katie (the blogger) recommended Zinsser but I decided to get the same brand as the stain so I picked MINWAX Polyurethane Clear Semi-Gloss which cost $11.12 including the paintcare fee. |
I felt ready to go stain my "new" coffee table! As I was checking out one of the Home Depot employees asked me if I had a paint brush. I had not considered that so he showed me what he recommended as an ideal brush. Through his recommendation I picked out the WOOSTER Pro White China Bristle brush which cost $12.78. I was going to get two of those brushes which would have put me at about $25, but the Home Depot employee recommended that I use that brush for the stain and the polyurethane and buy Klean Strip Paint Thinner to clean the brush, which only cost $6.97. I would save about $6 in doing so!
After walking out of Home Depot I ended up paying $48.52 for all the supplies I needed to stain my "new" table. It did not really feel like "More saving, More doing" as the receipt claims. Nevertheless, I am ready to stain now after a major setback of not going to the store prepared.
Stay tuned for next week because this time I WILL be staining. I will post a video of me staining the coffee table.