Furniture Rescue: Oak Cerused

So a while back I fell in love with this oak coursed secretary that Little Green Notebook Did….

Little Green Notebook Oak Cerused Secretary

Check out the tutorial Here. It’s amazing stuff.

TNPLH: Cerused Coffee Table 1

So when I found this fun coffee table, for $40 on craigslist I thought it might look really cool with the same treatment. And it was only $40 so if it got messed up no biggie.

TNPLH: Furniture Rescue Cerused Coffee Table 2

First caveat is that on Little Green Notebook, she explains that it HAS to be oak. Now I had no clue if this table was oak or not, but I knew that just from the look of it, the piece had VERY pronounced wood grain. So I figured it should work, directionally correct.

TNPLH: Furniture Rescue Cerused Coffee Table 3

So the hardest part was the stripping of the wood. It took FOREVER! And it was a TOTAL MESS! I have done a lot of furniture in the past, however I usually paint (not stain), so I usually don’t have to do a perfect job stripping down to the bare bones. But in this case you have to put in the dirty work and get it all the way down to the wood.

Also – when I asked for the metal wire brush to stripe the wood, the hardware store looked at me like I didn’t know what I was doing. But the thing is you want to use this (not sand down) because you really are trying to get the deep divots of the wood grain to become more pronounced. So it will feel like you are being rough with the furniture, that is ok!

TNPLH: Furniture Rescue Oak Cerused 4

The navy looked so cool I almost wanted to leave it like it was. I layered up 3 layers of the Shellac and then I waxed my heart away…you can also kinda see above that the wood grain was already pronounced…..

TNPLH: Cerused Coffee Table

Boom! I love the way it turned out. What a great inspiration Little Green Notebook was! I love it! Not bad for $40, $20ish in supplies, and some good hard elbow grease! Love!

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