Ryan Fightmaster, MD

Writer. Furniture professional. Former practicing physician.

This project was a commissioned piece from a local artist in Asheville. She has an eye for midcentury gems! But this Lane Acclaim side table needed serious work.

The most important detail in working with this collection is to be delicate. Thus, I avoided sanding for two reasons: 1) I did not want to sand through the veneer. If I sanded at all, it was only by hand with 220-grit sandpaper 2) I wanted to preserve as much of the underlying color beneath that topcoat as possible. To strip the piece, I used QCS Stripwell, an eco-friendly solution to effective topcoat removal.

The two-tone color scheme to these tables presents a challenge as well. After stripping the piece, I taped off the outer border, then toned the middle of the piece with Mohawk’s Medium walnut toner. Then, I sprayed five coats of glossy lacquer, finishing with a 0000 steel wool rub down. After the middle section was complete, I worked identically on the outside edge, but instead of utilizing Medium Walnut, I chose Perfect Brown toner.

Here’s the finished product: