Clois Flip & Thanksgiving Tablescape

MEET CLOIS!

First off, we decided to name her Clois after Malorie's grandmother. When we first bought Clois, Mal's grandmother LOVED her, so we thought it would be fitting to name her Clois. Clois turned out even better than we imagined! Considering the end result, the manual labor really wasn't near as bad as some other pieces we've done (cough cough, Barb). Since we finished Clois right before Thanksgiving, we thought it would be fun to showcase her with a couple of different tablescapes. Links to everything we could find can be found here. Note that some items are old or from TJ Maxx (and un-linkable).

Tablescape #1

For this one, we did a little more dressy design. Something like this is great for thanksgiving because it's a little more fun than an everyday look. Unless you have a dining table that's never used, we all know it's unrealistic to have a dining table that looks like this everyday. We also tried using two different types of candlesticks-- which do you like better?!

Tablescape #2

For this second one, we toned it down a bit for a more every day look. It's fun to dress up our tables every now and then, but we need an everyday style that's decorated, but functional!

Tablescape #3

For this last one, we wanted something that showcased the wood of the table. Since we put a lot of work into getting the stain this perfect light but warm tone, we wanted a simple centerpiece with a little bit of height and greenery.

What was the basic flip process for Clois?

1. Completely sand the piece-- we used a 60 grit sandpaper on the entire table

2. Wipe the piece down with a tack cloth before staining

3. Stain process (see section below) - note that we used wood conditioner on this piece to begin with and absolutely hated what it did to the stain, so ripped it off and started again (wood conditioner is great for single stains, but not this multi-stain process).

4. Paint chairs and bottom of bench with chalk paint (chalk paint recipe at end of this post)

5. Seal the top of the table and bench with Minwax Finishing Wax Paste

6. Seal the chairs and base of (FINISH THIS)

How did you stain the piece?

One of our favorite things to do is to layer stains. When you layer, you can pull out different tones of the wood with each layer of stain. The three stains that we used to create this look are above: (1) Minwax Weathered Oak, (2) Minwax White Wash Pickling and (3) Minwax Special Walnut. Here are the simple steps:

1. Completly wipe down your piece after sanding to remove any leftover dust or grain

2. Using a paper towel, apply the weathered oak stain all over the piece-- wait 5 minutes and wipe off any excess.

3. Give the piece about 24 hours to really soak in the stain

4. Using a damp rag, wipe the white wash stain onto the piece and then quickly wipe off with a dry paper towel. Work in sections so the stain doesn’t dry. You don't want to wipe off immediately, but you also don't want it to dry-- every wood takes this process differently. We had to work very fast on this piece. We worked all the way down the piece before moving to the next section.

5. Allow the white wash stain to dry (usually less than an hour)

6. Using a paper towel, apply the weathered oak stain over top the same way as before-- wait 5 minutes and wipe off any excess.

7. Repeat steps #4 and #5.

8. Repeat step #6 but with special walnut stain instead of weathered oak.

9. You can repeat steps 4-6 as many times as you need. Note that the base of the piece will likely take the stain different than the top. So make sure you play with the stains until you like the way they look together as an entire piece.

How did you create your own chalk paint?

One reason we use this recipe is because it allows you to use any color of paint you want or already have, rather than only being able to use the chalk paint options available.

*Chalk Paint Recipe:

Sample size of flat paint (if you use a quart, instead of a sample size, just double the recipe).

1 TBSP Plaster of Paris

1 TBSP Calcium Carbonate Powder

1-2 tsp warm water

Mix plaster of paris, calcium carbonate powder and warm water well until no more chunks exist. Start with just 1 tsp of water and slowly add the second tsp as needed. Add liquid to paint sample and thoroughly mix until combined.