Martin was constructed by a local woodworker and had all the promise of a beautiful little table. I loved the wood grain and curved features and how the piece felt generally light and airy while also structurally sound. It had been painted with a thin and splotchy white paint that I so badly wished to be more uniform. The construction itself was built with good intentions, but it needed to be re-glued in places and had a pretty significant wobble to it. The top also had wear and stain markings, so first things first, I got to sanding.

I knew I wanted to stain the top so I used a 220 grit sandpaper. Once the top was smooth, I also went around with 50 grit sandpaper to knock down the lumps and drips of white paint. Most of the paint had gathered around the edges of the legs, so I mostly focused there.

There were a few places that had me in a quandary. For example, you can see in the picture below, the wood has a more natural edge and rough texture, so do I just sand it down until it's straight yet angled? It would likely look like the wood had split if I did that... so I kept the natural edge in all of it's glory, just smoothed it down so it's softer to the touch.

Back to the top of the piece. I decided to stain it to give it some depth and warmth, so I chose Minwax Stain in Red Oak. Before applying the color stain, I coated it with a Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner to ensure the stain went on evenly. You can see the clear glean of the pre-stain:

I wiped the wood conditioner off, waited about 20 minutes, and applied the red oak stain.

My main goal with this stain was to accentuate the wood grain and deepen it's tone as opposed to overlay a solid and uniform color. The stain sat for about 5 minutes before I wiped it off with a cloth. I later added a second coat to deepen the color.

I adore this color of paint by Behr. It's called Calligraphy and I think it adds a deep richness to the piece. I applied two coats and finished it with Minwax spray polycyclic. The spray was ideal for accessing the base and avoiding drips. For the top, I chose a semi gloss polyurethane to give it a bit of shine. Three coats later and Martin was done!