When we bought our house I was so excited to get settled in our own space again. For the past 2 years we have been living in parents/in-laws homes or an apartment. Prior to that we lived in our own condo but decided to rent that out when we moved out of state. Anyways, it finally came time to buy a home again and stay put for a while. I had a semi-long list of furniture items that I wanted for the house. One of the main things was a good kitchen table. I wanted a real wood table but we are not made of money and I didn't really want to spend a whole lot on one. So I did what I do best and started comparing prices and tried to figure out where we could get one. To my dismay I couldn't seem to find anything. Then we happened to stop at IKEA for a few things, and of course you have to go through the maze that is their showroom in order to find one simple item. We ended up in the table section and were surprised with what we found. I had not been in an IKEA in a long time and they have really improved on their quality. In one room I had at least 4 options of tables that were real wood and well within my budget. We ended up going with an unfinished rectangle table. I really liked the idea of having a table I could make my own. If I didn't like it then I could change it down the road. Probably what really sold me on it was the price, our table was only $69!
INGO table from IKEA: $69
IKEA sells their own line of beeswax polish and glazing paint so you can finish your table the way you want. I purchased the clear polish to keep the natural look of the wood.
Here is how I did it:
The beeswax polish just makes the untreated wood more durable. Because I decided to go with the clear polish my prep was very minimal. I wiped my table down with a dry rag and was ready to paint. However, some unfinished wood pieces require some light sanding, especially if you decided to use a glazed paint or finish stain. I opted to use a wider paint brush to cover more surface area and to hopefully cut down on the time I spent painting the table.
The beeswax polish has a clear honeycomb sticker on the top. Don't be fooled by the paint glaze that will have colored stickers on top. When I opened the jar I was a little concerned because it looks milky white but I promise you it will dry clear. I think it's a white milky color to help you know where you are painting.
On the jar it will tell you to apply a thin coat. It took a lot of product to get a thin coat! The polish was really easy to apply and there was very little odor. I didn't have to worry about not overlapping or wiping any excess off like I would have had to with regular stain. In the end I decided to apply two coats of polish. Wait the recommended 12-24 hours before applying your second coat. The finished look does not look very different from the beginning picture and the table still has an unfinished feel to it but if anything spills on it I can wipe it up without leaving any kind of residue or stain.
Overall I love the look of our table.
that table looks good enough to eat off of
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