A Plaid Finish

July 21 2020, by Gene Howard, 2 min reading time

Amy Howard At Home Contributor, Tamara Hudson, shows us how to create a plaid finish on a rescued table.

Step 1: Clean Up

This table was about to go to the dump but I rescued it! It was a little dirty but with some elbow grease and CLEAN SLATE she was ready to get painted.

Step 2: Base Color + Plaid

I started with One Step Paint in Italian Silver for the base color on the top inset of the table. I used One Step Paint Good Man is Hard to Find and Black for the Buffalo Check Plaid. After an entire roll of tape the plaid was DONE!

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Step 3: Trim

Next, I painted 2 coats of One Step Paint Easy Street on the trim, apron, and legs of this French Provencial Beauty.

Step 4: Wax Time

After that dried, I used Mind Your Own Beeswax all over the entire piece.

I left that dry slightly coming to "tack"...you don't want to apply the dark wax when the light wax is still slick. You want to use your ring finger to touch it and when it's tacky...it's READY.

I applied the Dark Wax in all the places that it would have naturally aged.

So stop and think about it. NEVER start your dark wax right in the middle....think about the edges where you would have pulled yourself up to the table for Sunday Dinner. The table legs from your shoe scuffs. Any corners and edges. Dark Wax is never applied 100% to the piece. I like to do 80/20 or 70/30. The Dark Wax is highlighting certain areas.

Step 5: Buff It Out

After the Dark Wax dried a bit, I used a lint-free rag to buff the entire table to a beautiful shine. You want it to come to tack too, which is usually about 30 minutes but the humidity outside can make it take a little longer. Sometimes I even wait until the next day buff. When I buff out a piece I think of a shoeshine...I literally hear that sound in my head. You want just enough pressure but not too much because it will wipe all your hard waxing work right off. Buffing the wax "sets" the wax and leaves a realistic beautiful shine.