I love the story behind old furniture and frequently think of the original owners while I work on making the piece pretty again. This beautiful find, was sitting in the basement of an estate sale home, under a bunch of pots and pans. The previous owner used this drafting table 50-60 years ago. The top showed signs of wear, including the pinpoints used to hold down the drafting paper.
This table was one of my favorite finds and “before and after” transformations. Not only was the cost only $30, it was relatively easy to refinish. The table was in rough shape to begin with!
The piece did not look like it was stained but did have a coat of poly. I used a palm sander to remove the finish and it cleaned up nicely. I left the pinpoint marks for some character. I applied stain and poly to finish. (Sorry, I don’t remember the color of the stain. The poly was MinWax Wipe On Poly in a satin finish.)
I gifted this piece to my nephew who is an author and graphic designer and needed a desk. I bought a large piece of glass to protect the top. It turned out beautifully. (Ignore the treadmill in the background.)
