Oil? Wax? Paint? Agh!

[BlancheDuBois2]

I've got a nice old Laura Ashley coffee table which I want to strip and do something with, it's a bit orange and heavily varnished for my liking at the moment. I want it to look as stripped as possible, and quite natural... any thoughts for what I should do with it once I've finished sanding it down? I'd like it to look like the second picture, first picture is my table!

I think the look you're aiming for it waxed or oiled. Both seem to give a similar finishe in my experience. Maybe wax is a little shinier when buffed.

I would be tempted to send the table to be dipped. Especially if it has any little grooves like on the legs of your "goal" photo. I've stripped a fair few items by hand and it's dull and a pain!

Thanks Soup! I'm currently determined to do it myself, but if you say it's a complete pain maybe I should rethink... I'd put aside tomorrow to do it with an electric sander, is that reasonable do you think?

You won't get the finish you want using a sander. Worth getting it dipped because of the time and effort trying to strip it yourself.

I recently stripped a dark brown stained desk with a combination of electric sander and chemical stripper. It was hard hard work. Really hard. And that had no rounded bits at all - those are really hard to do by sanding.