DIY old table repair

In detail: do-it-yourself repair of an old table from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Probably, many people have an old rare table somewhere in the closet or in the attic, which the hand does not rise to throw away. In this article, we will try to convince you not to throw it away, but to give a new life. Moreover, this is relevant in our time, when there is a continuous high cost. It is much cheaper to do a table repair with your own hands and get an exclusive designer item, which will surprise all your friends when you look at it.

Restoration of furniture is a rather exciting process and, if desired, anyone can try it.

We will describe the restoration of the table using the example of a small table, which you see in the photo above.

Before starting repair work, you need to stock up on the following tools and materials:

Hammer
Screwdriver
Pliers
Sandpaper of different grains;
Brushes;
Varnish or paint;
Impregnation for wood;
Wood putty;
Rubber spatula;
Joiner's glue or PVA glue;
Veneer.

We examine the table and determine which defects are present on the product. It can be:

scratches and dents
erased varnish,
damaged legs that wobble.

If the legs are very loose, it is better to disassemble the table and carry out further restoration disassembled.

The purpose of this process is to remove the old paintwork and prepare the table for subsequent refinishing.

For sanding, we need a sandpaper. We begin to grind the product with a coarse-grained sandpaper, we go in a circular motion along the entire table: along the table top, legs and the side belt.

Further, for better removal of old varnish and leveling the surface, you can use a finer sandpaper. If you have a sander, the sanding process will be much faster.

Video (click to play).

When sanding, it is important not to overdo it or sand down holes.

If the table is made of natural wood, it is better to treat it with a special impregnation, which will protect it from pests and diseases.

Leave the parts to dry for a while. Then we cover all the cracks with putty. After complete drying, we grind the putty again with a fine sandpaper

If the table is made of chipboard, you need to inspect the table top and determine if there are bubbles on the surface. If there is, then the veneer is peeling.

Such a defect can be corrected by making an incision on the surface of the bubble with a thin knife. After that, you need to apply glue with a syringe into the hole. Then we take a regular iron and iron the surface of the table until the veneer sticks.

Let's start painting. We take paint or varnish, depending on your taste, brush and paint. You may need to paint in two or three coats.

This is determined in the course of restoration work, depending on what kind of appearance we want to get. Let the paint dry well.

When all the parts are well dry, we proceed to the assembly of the product.

We leave the assembled furniture until the glue is completely dry and the parts set.

So we examined the main stages of the restoration of a wooden table. We wish you to try to do the repair yourself and be satisfied with the result.

Sooner or later the moment comes when the wooden table loses its former attractiveness. Sending it to gather dust in the attic or throwing it away altogether is not the right way out. The best way out of this situation is to restore the old table.

Furniture restoration is a fun process that allows you to significantly save on the purchase of new furniture

This is especially true when the product is made of expensive wood species.In such circumstances, it will be much more profitable to restore the table than to buy a new expensive table or replace the old table with a lower quality product. In addition, antique models are appreciated more and more over time, and it is likely that in a few years a refurbished table will greatly increase in value.

Round folding table made of wood before and after DIY restoration

For many, the ancient table in the house is not just a piece of furniture, but also a memory of ancestors, a family heirloom and a symbol of long-term stability. By restoring a wooden table, you can give it a second life and preserve it as part of family history.

Chic table with carved legs with restored top

The best option to do this is to restore the wooden table with your own hands. Repairing the table will give a lot of positive impressions and will allow you to get a unique thing that no one else will have.

Decoupage will allow you not only to budget and quickly transform the table, but also to stylize it, for example, under Shabby chic

Strong wooden things last a long time, but sometimes they lose their presentable appearance. This problem can be easily fixed by performing a table repair. Do-it-yourself table restoration will help save the family budget, since the workshops ask for a high price for such work.

Beautiful tables take on new life after restoration

Thus, summing up all of the above, we can highlight the following advantages of restoring a wooden table with your own hands:

saving the budget;
the second life of the old table;
preservation of family heirlooms;
creation of unique furniture;
low costs for table repair;
high quality and durable product.

The process of restoring an old table is painstaking, but within the power of any person who has even small skills in working with wood and modest knowledge in the field of furniture design. With the help of available tools and small material costs, you can give an outdated table a fresh and presentable look.

Mosaic table decor from broken plates - an unusual budget solution for restoration

The following tools are used to restore wooden tables:

Materials and tools for restoration

In order to make the restoration of the table, you will need the following materials:

putty;
special products for wood;
varnish;
dye;
glue;
if necessary, a wooden canvas.

The wooden table after staining has taken on a completely different look

There are several ways to repair a wooden table. The most popular is the method based on painting the table surface with paint and then applying varnish.

To give the table a more spectacular look, it can be painted not as a whole, but only in individual parts

The second most common is the pasting of furniture with self-adhesive film. This method turns out to be the cheapest, but at the same time it allows you to hide existing defects in furniture and transform the appearance of the product for the better.

The simplest and most beautiful option for decorating an old table that does not require fiddling with paints is gluing a film

An original technique in furniture restoration is tiling on the table surface. This method will allow the product to maintain its beautiful appearance for a long time, since it will not be afraid of moisture and high temperature.

Table decoration with ceramic tiles in separate fragments

Work on the restoration of the table should be started with a thorough examination of the product for defects. The best option would be to disassemble the furniture into parts, clean it from dirt, and then reassemble it.

We carefully inspect all fasteners in the structure and defects of the countertop and repair parts

If breakdowns were found, then they should be eliminated.If it is impossible to repair one of the parts, it should be replaced with a new one, prepared independently or made to order.

We remove the old coating with a grinder or manually

Next, you need to remove the old varnish. For this, the product is sanded. This can be done with a grinder, and in the absence of one - with skins of varying degrees of hardness.

After grinding, we thoroughly clean the table from dust and seal up cracks and chips

If the tabletop does not have severe damage, then you can not hide the natural beauty of the wood and cover it with a stain and then varnish.

It is very important to polish the wood along the grain, otherwise hard-to-remove defects may occur. At the end of the treatment, it is necessary to clean the surface with sandpaper, and then remove all dust from the furniture. After that, you need to degrease the surface of the table using special solvents, alcohol or acetone. If any parts of the product have chips, cracks or scratches, then it is necessary to putty them, and to connect the breaks with glue.

The table can be primed in 1-2 layers using a small sponge roller, while each layer should dry completely

When the primer is dry, sand the countertop again with a medium grit sandpaper or sanding sponge.

Then the stage of grinding and degreasing the furniture surface should be carried out again. If the table is made of natural wood, then it is advisable to protect it from pests and diseases. For this, the product is impregnated with a suitable agent.

If the table is made of natural wood, it is better to treat it with a special impregnation, which will protect it from pests and diseases.

A polished dining table can be restored by sanding the surface and applying a new layer of decorative lacquer to it.

The next step is varnishing the wood parts. If you need to mask some defects or just want to change the color of the old table, then before applying varnish, you can use paint. Changing the shade of furniture can also be achieved using not transparent, but colored varnish. After all the parts have dried well, you need to assemble the product.

The paint should be applied in 2 thin layers, and then protect the table surface with varnish

Decor of an old table using decoupage technique

The final stage in the restoration of a wooden table is decoration. You can again take up the brush and, using various stencils or masking tape, apply an applique to the table surface.

Painting the table through tulle should be done over the base layer with a pigment of a contrasting color

For those who can draw well, the image of their own masterpiece on furniture, which will remain for many years, is suitable.

A table with art painting will perfectly complement the interior in ethnic or rustic style

The pattern on the countertops can also be created using mosaics or beading. The latter is used in work when the goal is to imitate one of the noble metals - gold, silver or bronze.

Create a painting from small fragments on the surface of the table

Potal (gilding) is a wonderful decoration for a table in a classic style

An old table in your home is more than just a piece of furniture. In a sense, this is a story, a memory of ancestors, a symbol of the long-term stability of the home.

The old table can be restored, giving it a second life, and saving yourself a lot of money to buy a new table.

The ideal balance between careful attention to the history of one's own family and the needs of everyday household comfort is provided by the restoration of the table with your own hands. Indeed, you should not rush to throw away an old table found in the attic - a good renovation can breathe a second life into a dilapidated object, saving its owner's money for buying new furniture.

Read also: Niva 4x4 DIY repair

Perhaps such a renovation will also give new aesthetic sensations at the sight of unusual shapes and silhouettes, will delight you with the pleasant warm texture of solid wood, cleaned of dirt and layers of outdated finishes.

But before proceeding to the description of the course of restoration work, let's see how you can perform them in the best quality.

For work on restoring and updating the old table with your own hands, it is recommended to stock up on tools and materials from the following list:

Hand tools for restoration.

electric drill, wood drills;
a set of chisels;
face planer;
hammer;
nail puller;
screwdrivers (flat and Phillips);
clamps;
jigsaw (manual or electric);
pliers and round nose pliers;
hacksaws (for wood and metal);
assembly knife;
a set of files;
measuring devices (ruler, square, tape measure);
felt polish;
set of brushes;
joiner's glue;
acrylic varnish, stain.

The restoration begins with the removal of old varnish and paint.

Before proceeding with the implementation of this plan, it is necessary to carefully examine the entire table and its most hidden corners and crevices. This is done in order to correctly assess the general technical condition of the subject and plan the total amount of work.

Almost any cardinal table restoration begins with its disassembly. As a rule, the older the object, the more of its details require serious instrumental intervention. In some cases (if, for example, the countertop has warped heavily due to very long-term use), it is simply pointless to restore certain parts - it will turn out to be too expensive and ineffective.

Then it is better either to independently make a product that is completely out of order, or to order a part from specialists on the side. If the damage from time and from improper storage turned out to be not so destructive, then the old structure should be carefully strengthened. This means, in particular, that the existing not very strong joints must be tightened, and strongly loosened joints must be disassembled, then cleaned and re-twisted or glued.

It has been noticed that in furniture one of the most affected components over time is the paintwork.

The varnish is ripped off the table to the very base.

Therefore, often, when the renovation of an old wooden table begins, you have to deal with peeling off the old paint (which may turn out to be laid in several layers) from the table surfaces.

If there are too thick coatings or large areas of damaged surface, it is recommended to use a drill with a metal brush attachment or a sander to remove paint. After the old paint has been completely removed, the next stage of preparation is carried out.

It consists in degreasing the cleaned surface. This can be done by carefully wiping the wooden parts with a soft cloth soaked in special solvents suitable for this coating, alcohol or acetone. At the same time, obvious defects are sanded with emery paper or a grinder.

However, old damage (potholes, scratches, chips, etc.) cannot always be removed by grinding. High-quality restoration presupposes the obligatory putty of the surfaces of the old table. It should not be forgotten that after the putty has completely dried, all surfaces to be treated must be sanded well again.

If possible, it is advisable to process the old wooden parts separately, after carefully separating the tabletop and underframe. The table top is sanded again, after which it is painted with a paint suitable for furniture and covered with 2-3 layers of colorless varnish. This operation is carried out without haste, with keeping each layer of paint and varnish until they are completely dry.

in the presence of faults, these places are glued and pressed tightly against each other with a clamp.

The other part of the table - the underframe - often requires even more attention than the tabletop. After many years of operation, it can have cracks in parts and serious fractures. If the owner of such a rarity nevertheless decides to restore it, then he should first disconnect the legs from the underframe using the appropriate tools.

Fracture points for further connection of the dispersed parts must be glued. Then, using clamps, these parts are pressed tightly against each other. Sometimes, for better tightening of the cracked parts to each other, you can use self-tapping screws, which come in handy in inconvenient places where it is difficult or impossible to install a clamp.

After the glue has dried (after about 12-15 hours), the self-tapping screws are removed from the wooden elements of the table. The tabletop and underframe are connected to each other either with glue or by providing a removable connection, which will be very useful in small apartments.

The restoration of the table ends with varnishing of the wood details. But before that, they must be opened with a stain. To avoid drips, it is better to do this with a piece of soft foam rubber. After the stain has dried, the wooden surfaces of the table are primed with a transparent varnish (primer) and lightly treated with a thin sandpaper.

When updating tables, you should always take into account their purpose and where they will be located in the future:

The table for the nursery can be decorated with photographs and drawings.

Children's table. It is recommended to glue clippings from bright glossy magazines or children's pictures to its surface after removing old paint from the countertop and sanding it. Then all this is covered with 4 layers of acrylic varnish.
Restoration of the dressing table. An original solution would be to remake an old toiletry table for a sink stand. A hole is cut in the middle of the table so that a sink fits into it, but without significant protrusions above the surface of the table. Ceramic tiles can be glued to the remaining space on the countertop.
Kitchen table. You can paint an old piece of furniture with some bright paint. A film is glued to the painted countertop, which, for example, imitates beautiful lace. At the same time, the film can not be glued to the table top, but attached from below with special brackets.
Updating the writing desk. You can cover the old countertop with some eye-catching wallpaper. To give the furniture freshness and solidity, wallpapers that imitate the texture of wood of any valuable species are well suited. To give the composition a sense of integrity and completeness, the table legs can be varnished in wood tones.
Coffee table. With this option, a bright pattern with geometric elements will be in good harmony. It is better to choose some dull paint for the background, which is recommended to be applied to the countertop with a spray gun. The geometric pattern is applied to the dry painted surface with a brush or special masking tape. Fragments between stripes can be filled with paints of bright colors.

The kitchen table can be decorated using decoupage technique.

If the table legs are detached from the underframe, it is worthwhile to mark in advance exactly where the particular leg was. Install each leg in the place where it was before the repair.

Covering the table with a white primer, one must be prepared for the fact that then almost all defects will become visible on its surfaces.

To provide furniture surfaces with maximum strength, the lacquer coating must have at least 3 layers made with a paint roller, 5 layers with a spray gun and 10 layers with a cotton swab.

Sand a wooden countertop along the grain of the wood.If you do this across the grain, there will be noticeable small risks on the countertop.

Taking on the restoration of old furniture with your own hands, it is worth thinking about the fact that this process is not only an opportunity to save your money, but also an excellent chance to reveal your talent as a master of home design. Image - DIY old table repair

It is not uncommon for a favorite piece of furniture to lose its original appearance, and there is simply no money to buy a new one. In such cases, furniture restoration can help. Let's take a closer look at how to restore a table at home, what is important to take into account and what steps should not be missed.

There are quite a few ways to restore furniture, ranging from light "cosmetic" decor to a major overhaul of the product. It is not so difficult to restore an old table with your own hands if it does not have any serious damage. In this case, it will be enough to sandpaper and paint the old piece of furniture so that it shines in a completely new light.

Repairing glass tables at home can be more time consuming, as well as a very costly process. If there is a breakage of the glass surface, it may be necessary not only to repair it, but also to buy a new one, since not all glass deformation can be eliminated by gluing and grinding.

The greatest scope for creativity opens up when restoring a wooden table. Indeed, it is to pieces of furniture made of solid wood that various painting and patterning techniques are perfectly applied, including the decoupage technique. It should be noted that painting and various decorative techniques are most applicable to small tables. This can be used to finish, for example, a small desk or a compact coffee table. But for the restoration of the folding oak model, additional resources may be needed. Since the table has a large solid surface, it will be quite acceptable to finish its parts with materials such as MDF and chipboard. Securely fixed and carefully crafted, they will not only give the table a new lease of life, but also give a completely different look.

A plastic table can be repaired using the same paint, but this can only be done if the piece of furniture is not severely cracked. Plastic is a rather capricious material, and when exposed to high temperatures, the glued seam may not withstand, which will lead to new damage.

Computer tables made of chipboard and chipboard are often peeled off, as a result of which their appearance becomes sloppy and careless. For the repair of such models, special adhesive tapes and films that imitate a wooden surface are suitable.

Do not rush to throw out the old table. He has served you for many years and will serve you more if you give him a little attention.

The table can be decorated in such a way that it will compete with any designer thing.

New life can be breathed in using completely different methods and techniques.

Let's consider the most common methods.

painting;
veneering (pasting an old wooden surface with veneer);
pasting with self-adhesive film;
decoupage (application of the table with drawings from napkins, rice or banana paper);
facing with tiles;
painting the table using a stencil (through a fabric, paper or plastic stencil);
decor with the help of leaf (foil, which is glued in the form of a pattern).

We will look at some of the decoration methods in this article in a little more detail. In addition, you can turn an old table into a modern and original design element using a regular LED strip. The illuminated table will perfectly fit into any interior.

To return the old table to its former beauty, we need the following:

Sander;
sandpaper;
paint for wood;
impregnation;
primer;
primer roller;
varnish (colored or colorless);
brushes for each type of coating.

Read also: DIY angle grinder repair

As well as personal protective equipment:

protective glasses;
respirator;
work gloves.

Step 1. First you need to inspect the table for breakages, cracks, scratches. If there are breakdowns, they must be eliminated. We check all the bolts on the legs and the table top, tighten them.
The best option would be to disassemble the table in detail, clean it from dirt and dust, then reassemble it. You can add glue to all attachment points and wait until it dries (at least 15 hours).

Step 2. Next, you need to grind the table with a machine or sand it by hand. This allows you to identify all problem areas that were not visible before.
Removing old paint and varnish is a very laborious and time-consuming process. We clean the surface with fine-grained and medium-grained sandpaper.

Note! The wood should be sanded along the grain. Improper processing results in hard-to-remove defects.

Step 3. All identified cracks and deep scratches must be repaired with a putty. Dry the patches completely. Next, we clean and grind the surface again.

Step 4. We degrease the table with acetone and prime its surface. A universal primer is suitable for this. Instead of impregnation, we prime the tabletop 2-3 times, completely drying each layer.

Step 5. Grinding the table surface again.

Step 6. If the countertop has no scratches, chips or cracks, you can treat it with a water-repellent impregnation and cover it with several layers of stain or varnish. This will give a unique fresh wood effect.

Step 7. If the surface condition is unimportant or the subsequent decoration of the table is planned, it is necessary to paint it. Choosing a water-based paint. Apply with a large brush (it is better if it is not a painting, but an artistic one). When the paint dries, apply a second coat. Application should be quick, short strokes, thin layers. We dry the table for at least 4 days.

Note! Dark paint should be applied in two to three coats to avoid light gaps.

Painting is one of the most popular techniques for decorating interiors and household items. There are several options for painting furniture: art painting with a thin brush, painting through a stencil (template), painting with stamps.

For a glass countertop, an excellent solution is a bright and airy painting with stained glass paints.

Painting with tulle or any other lace looks very nice. To apply an openwork pattern to the surface of the table, you need to attach the tulle to the table top (it is advisable to fix it with tape on the back side).

We paint the table in the same way as through a regular stencil, using a sponge, roller or spray paint. We select the color of the enamel contrasting with the color of the surface.

Glass table with stained glass painting.

Note! The painting is applied to the glass table top from the inside, the front side remains smooth.

First we lay out the frame mosaic elements with tile glue. We try to make the seams as identical as possible. Then, from the center of the table, we begin to lay out the tiles (or pieces of tiles). Laying tiles of different colors would be an interesting solution. From above, the tiles are covered with a special grout. To avoid showing the ends of the tiles, you can attach plastic corners to the edges of the table in the color of the tile grout.

Facing the countertop with mosaic tiles.

Mosaic pattern from pieces of tile.

In the mosaic technique, you can use not only tiles, but also other materials and a wide variety of objects - shells, pebbles, pieces of glass, eggshells, etc.

Volumetric decor using eggshells.

Potal is the thinnest sheets of various metal alloys, which are used to imitate any surface in gold, bronze or silver. The gilding technique is often used in furniture decoration along with other decorative techniques.

To begin with, draw a stencil on which the gold leaf will be glued. Then we apply glue on it with a thin brush.

We carefully put the sheets of potted on the glue. With a soft brush, carefully remove unnecessary parts of the sheet.

The thicker the brush with which we apply the glue, the thicker the gold leaf pattern will be.

Note! The particles of the sheets that were left over from decorating the countertop can be collected and used again in the form of a powder.

To begin with, the tabletop is completely covered with one color. After drying, you need to stick masking tape, creating a stencil from it for other colors.

With the help of a roller or brush, all other colors are applied one after the other. After that, the masking tape is removed.

On a colored background, you can draw or glue various pictures.

Finally, the table must be covered with two coats of clear varnish. This will add strength to the decor and protect it from external influences. The varnish can be glossy or matte.

How to restore an old table with veneering, see the video:

This master class turned out with a large number of photographs and I think it will be interesting not only as a master class, but also simply as a report on the very interesting work done.Such a table was brought for restoration. Very badly damaged countertop, raised and burnt veneer.In some places, the veneer fell offThe joints dried up and parted.Over time, the varnish wiped off, the legs are chipped, beatenThe first thing we do is remove the countertop. Unfortunately, it cannot be restored. the solid wood from which it was made curved very strongly over time and the tabletop acquired the shape of a “boat”. In the photo you can see how uneven the surface of the countertop has become, i.e. its functionality is lost.

If you try to straighten her, then this must be done under pressure, and the press will split her. So, I had to leave her as a donor for subsequent restorations. And on this table, make a new tabletop.We remove the old countertop, gently prying it evenly on all sides, so as not to damage the underframe.After removing the tabletop, we see that the array of the underframe is broken in several places.We separate these faults, so that the underframe could be restored.Using a mallet and a hammer, carefully knock the legs out of the underframeDo not forget to mark the leg and the place on the underframe in order not to guess which leg to attach back to :)The lower crosshair (the legs are attached to each other from below) is also in poor condition. One element is completely broken off, the joints on the dowels parted and cracked.I had to completely disassemble all this in some places, I even had to break it to restore it further :))To glue these broken parts, I had to use self-tapping screws, i.e. drill, grease with glue and tighten the components with self-tapping screws. Because it is impossible to get close with clamps, there are no flat planes.After the glue dries, this is about 12 hours, the screws are unscrewed.Now it's time to remove the old cover.In the past MK I have shown the removal of the coating by stripping. On this table, this trick did not work, the coating is so strong that it practically did not lend itself to washing (in its various forms)Therefore, in this case, we will grind it. It is certainly more difficult and much longer :(We use the “Iron” grinder on flat parts.In thin profiles and carvings, nothing can be done with a machine, you have to manually grind every bend, every detailIn the grooves, I carefully work with fine-grained sanding paper.And on convex and rounded surfaces I work with scotch-bright so as not to remove unnecessaryNow we start gluing the broken underframe. We coat all joints with glue and tighten the entire structure with clampsFirst, we connect the parts, install the clamps. You can also see a loose connection.And then we begin to tighten with clamps, but not both at once, but alternately as the gaps decrease, until the component parts are tightly connected.After the underframe has dried, we look at how the legs sit in their nestsI ordered a new tabletop from a furniture factory, it was made on the basis of the old walnut tabletop, following the old Envelope pattern.In the original, the tabletop was attached to the subframe “tightly”, i.e. was non-removable, at the request of the customer, I made the new tabletop removable so that the table could be easily moved between rooms, otherwise the table would not pass into a standard modern doorway.It's time to glue the legs with the bottom joint. First, we bait without glue, we watch how it rises. Then we coat all the dowels and holes with glue and tighten with clamps for 12 hours.and again we try on the entire structure on the underframe, make sure that everything fits into place and leave it to stick together in this position. If we start to remove and rearrange, then at this time the clamp can move imperceptibly for the eye and the detail will not fall into place later.A huge and most basic restoration work has been done. Now let's move on to “water procedures”! :))But seriously, no less important work remains: staining, priming and applying the finishing varnish.Stain with water stain. Because the walnut massif is very dense, deeper penetration is required, which is exactly what water stain possesses.Staining and priming with transparent primer is carried out separately - underframe with legs and tabletop.We prime it with transparent soil and be sure to grind it out, draw out the plane. This worktop has three coats of sanding primer.The carved parts between the layers of soil must be matted (easily grinded) with adhesive tape for adhesion to the next layer.And finally, we prepare the surface for applying the finishing varnish. Carefully remove all sanding dust. Image - DIY old table repair

Of course, very elegant, crazy beauty, brightness of color, saturation, but unfortunately this elegance does not correspond to the venerable age of the table and looks too flashy. The task of the customer was that the table did not look like a remake. Therefore, it was decided to transfer it to a silky matte varnish.

Option two, final.

Video (click to play).

Thanks to everyone who was with us live :))

Rate the article:

Grade 3.2 who voted: 85