Coffee Table Refinish

We cut the legs off an old ikea kitchen island to coffee table height to make Mr. O a small world table for his playroom.

The table was a little worse for wear because we’d used it as a kitchen island for 6 months before cutting the legs off. I figured it was time to give it a little makeover.

I started by painting the base and drawers solid white. I used Behr Marquee paint as it goes on super thick (to cover up all those ick spots) and we already had some leftover from our kitchen table refinish.

It does show brush strokes if you’re using a brush but I find when painting furniture that it just adds character.

For the table itself I did 3 coats whitewash, 2 coats grey semi-transparent deck stain, and 2 coats water based poly. This was the same combination I used on our kitchen table (See Post) so we already had the materials on hand!

I didn’t sand the top first but in hindsight I should have- the stain really brings out the stains! (Haha!) But if you were doing this to kitchen counters you would want to sand your visible surfaces first to get back to unmarred wood.

This updated coffee table play island suits our playroom so much better and I’m seriously loving the stain on the butcher block! Now where can I introduce butcher block counters into our home? Hmm

What do you think? Was this a successful furniture update? What else do we need in our Montessori inspired playroom?