Mum’s ‘huge savings’ on Bunnings table fix

Katie Johnston, 42, was on the hunt for a new dining table to match her newly renovated Hamptons-style home in Brisbane.

However, after doing a quick Google search, the mother-of-three discovered the look she was after would cost her around $2,000 to $2,500 — and instead decided to put her DIY skills to the test.

The 42-year-old decided to upcycle her existing wooden table, which was a hand me down from her mother-in-law and more than 20 years old.

“I started off by doing a small coffee table — I thought I’d see how I go with that before I did the dining table,” she told news.com.au

“And I was impressed. It turned out pretty good.

“I did so much research on the different techniques you can use, but I opted to go with using an undercoat primer.”

Katie said she used three products from Bunnings to transform the table, as well as sanding pads and sheets and a wooden brush specifically for varnishing.

With the help of her tradie husband, Katie unscrewed the table top and chair seats.

She then used an electric sander to remove the old varnish and was “amazed” by the colour hiding underneath.

“I just kept sanding it using sanding pads and paper too and was like ‘oh damn, this is exactly the colour I wanted’,” she said.

She then added a few coats of the Monocel (clear wood) varnish, before shifting her attention to the legs of the furniture.

She gave them a light sand using 250 grit sanding paper, before applying two coats of Bulls Eye undercoat and primer, two coats of the Taubmans Easy Coat in white and finishing it off with a varnish once it was all dry.

“I purposely used the primer and undercoat because it stops the yellow varnish seeping through,” she explained.

Katie said that even though she had faith in herself, especially with the guidance of her tradie partner, she was “blown away” by how good it actually turned out.

“It’s the perfect outcome I wanted to achieved,” she said.

She also shared before and after snaps of her transformation to a popular Bunnings Facebook group racking more than 2,500 ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments from fellow DIY enthusiasts.

“Fantastic restoration – looks like a completely different dining setting,” one person wrote.

“Huge transformation to your dining area,” a second person wrote, while a third added: “Love it, looks great. You did a fantastic job.”

Others were inspired to upcycle their old dining tables.

“Looks unreal. I’ve virtually got that exact table and chairs and I’m so sick of it. You’ve given me some inspiration,” one woman said.

Katie said she was overwhelmed by all the positive feedback but was glad she was able to inspire others with her handy work.

Originally published as Bunnings shopper’s ‘unreal’ dining table transformation