When searching for a new way to decorate your stained wood coffee table, or any stained wood furniture, you typically have three main choices.
You can stain or re-stain, paint, or "distress" stained wood.
In this article we will give you a brief description of all three, with some alternative options.
Beginning with staining or re-staining a coffee table, we first have to sand the table down.
It's important to use stainless steel wool when sanding down a table you plan on having a clear coat or light stain.
Often times, metal shavings are left in the wood and less than stainless may rust.
After sanding apply a coat of stain with a soft brush.
Go with the grain when staining your table.
Depending on which shade you desire or what variety of stain you have, times to dry are varied.
Please consult your package for further details.
Always stain in a well ventilated area.
Painting, like staining before it, can start with sanding.
It is not necessary to sand all the time, but is a good way to ensure a clean painting surface.
As with staining, it's best to go with the grain of the wood.
Beware poorly ventilated areas and landing flying insects.
Depending on the wood of the table, you may even be able to use spray paint.
With so many varieties of colors to choose from, one's limits are raised without having to have custom mixed paint.
Add this to the convenience of spray paint and that table is done in no time.
Distressing is a less common method of decorating a coffee table.
Distressing is when a table is deliberately damaged to give it an older, antique appearance.
Methods of physical distressing are varied.
Chaining is beating the furniture with, you guessed it, chains! Ball bearings are sometimes ground into table tops, giving it a worm-eaten old age look.
Chemical measures are often used to distress wooden coffee tables.
Caustic sodas and special acids are used to discolor the wood and sometimes actually etch.
Deliberate controlled water damage.
And even heat damage for some strange cases.
There are way too many more to list in this small article.
Other decorating methods that cannot be gone into at any great length here include decoupage and etching.
A brief summary for decoupage would be, affixing an image or design to a wooden furniture or box etc with lacquer so that it can still be seen.
Gold leaf adds very thin sheets of gold to details like carving and etchings.
Typically a soft brush is used to brush the gold leaf in place.
Later a finish is applied to make the gold leaf permanent.
This is a great way to add value to fine furniture.
Now with all these new decorating concepts under your belt, you are an unstoppable coffee table decorating machine! No blah or boring coffee table can stand in your way! With a little time and a bit more creativity you can be decorating coffee tables that are the envy of all.