Farmhouse Kitchen Island Makeover: How To Sand Indoors
The reveal of our farmhouse kitchen island makeover & how to sand furniture indoors without the mess
This project is sponsored by Narwal see our policies here
If I had a dollar for every time I said I would never take on another big sanding project, id have at-least $50 😉
I would probably just use that money to buy more sanding pads…
Our latest sanding project is a good one too, the kitchen island!
This island was here when we bought our farmhouse & I instantly fell in love with it.
It is large & sturdy, plus the bottom shelf is perfect for storing daily necessities.
Now that we are in the midst of our kitchen remodel it’s time to freshen it up a bit & stain it something just a bit lighter.
It also has some pretty large indents that need to be filled because crumbs keep getting stuck in there & it’s gross y’all.
If you followed along with our recent kitchen flooring update you know this island is extra heavy!
We could barely shuffle it out of the room to redo the flooring & there is no way I can lift it down the stairs into the shop to sand…
So the sanding needs to happen inside, which usually means dust everywhere, but I have a plan!
Let me introduce you to my most favorite cleanup helper, Narwal T10!
Together we knocked out the dust & this farmhouse island makeover.
Farmhouse Kitchen Island Makeover: How To Sand Indoors
Sanding The Island
The first step is to sand the tables existing varnish off, using 80 grit sandpaper.
While I was sanding, we set up Narwal to vacuum only the kitchen using its LiDAR + SLAM intelligent navigation system through our phone!
Once the 80 grit sandpaper removed the initial layer I moved onto the 120 grit sandpaper.
We still need to fill the deep gashes & some of the cracks but I want to remove as much of the dark stain as I can first.
Finally after quite a bit of sanding the island top was starting to really lighten up!
In some instances to remove layers of stain you can use oven cleaner or bleach, but since we will be preparing food on this surface & refinishing the entire thing indoors I thought it was better to skip the chemicals.
Next, I moved onto sanding down the legs.
I started with the orbital sander & then moved onto this small detail hand sander.
This is about the point in every project that I swear off sanding forever 😉
I did realize while I was hand sanding just how quiet our Narwal is & just how loud the orbital sander is…
If you are doing any sanding, especially indoors I highly recommend earplugs!
Filling In Gashes/Cracks
Filling in the deep gashes is one of the main reasons we decided to redo this island.
I love the character of some of the rough spots & exposed nail heads, but food was getting trapped in the really deep gashes & that was becoming gross.
After I cleaned out the gashes, I filled them in with stainable wood filler.
Once the wood filler dried, I sanded the entire island with the 220 grit sandpaper to make it nice & smooth.
Finishing
Now that the table is sanded down & smooth it’s time to prep the island for stain.
I started by wiping the entire island down with a lint free cloth to remove any leftover sanding dust.
I also decided this was a good time to send our Narwal to mop since the sanding had finally come to an end!
It is pre-programed to mop the kitchen floor which makes the swap from vacuuming to mopping simple.
My favorite thing about the Narwal is that it automatically cleans its mops, so the floors are really getting clean!
The Narwal T10 not only cleans its mops but also dries its mops after completing the mopping task.
I like to use a wood conditioner to help prepare the wood to take the stain evenly.
Apply the pre-stain using a clean cloth.
After the pre-stain dried it was finally time to choose a stain!
We tried out a couple different options, it was tough because I still wanted the island to be brown, just a warmer shade than it was.
The shade that looked the best was Natural by Minwax.
I applied it with a brush, letting it penetrate the wood, then wiped it as I went.
On top of the Natural stain I dry brushed a white wash on top.
Once the stain was completely dry, I added a clear wax on top to protect the finish.
Island Makeover Reveal
Y’all this turned out even better than I thought it would!
This island feels so smooth & the color is exactly the warm tone I was hoping for.
The best part is thanks to Narwal, I don’t have any major cleanup to do!
The entire kitchen feels lighter & brighter with our newly stained island!
Now the only thing left to decide is what we are going to do with those bar stools…
Let me know what you think of our island makeover.
Follow along with our kitchen renovation here or on Instagram!
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