One of my favorite furniture and decor sites is CB2.  The site is a spin off of Crate and Barrel and if you have never visited the site, you must check it out.  In their stores and on the website, you will fun and modern: furniture, storage ideas, decor, gifts…

A few years ago I purchased a bar height table for my basement.  It is sturdy, a perfect size, and kid tough!

They no longer carry that exact table, but something similar would be the
stilt 42″ high dining table.

Now back to the purpose of this post – making wood beautiful with varnish!

I purchased a set of three Dot Coat Hooks from CB2.  They are fun, useful and decorative, but they come in an unfinished wood.  The hooks can be used the way they arrive, but unfinished wood will usually discolor in the areas were they are touched repeatedly.  Plus, when you see how pretty they are with varnish, you will want to do the same.

To prepare the wood, you need to sand until smooth, wipe clean and varnish, but before you can do that you must gather your tools!

Tools of the trade:  sand paper, a mask, rubber gloves, rags, tack cloth and varnish.

For sanding, use sand paper or one of my favorites – a sanding sponge.  Depending on how rough the dots are, start with a medium grit (60-80) and end with a fine grit (100-150)

Before applying varnish, wipe the wood clean with a cloth then use a tack cloth.  Tack cloth is cheese cloth that has been treated with a substance to make it sticky.  Wipe this over the wood and it will pick up any dust left behind by your cloth.  The cleaner your wood is before you varnish, the nicer the resulting finish will be.

Now you are ready to varnish!  Always follow the directions on your varnish can, use gloves, and work in a well ventilated area.  I usually use a rag to apply the varnish, but use whatever you feel comfortable with.  For my dots, I used a satin finish varnish.

Before you begin – use a mask!  Use for both the sanding and varnishing!
Please protect the wonderful being that you are!

As you can see in the picture, the varnish brings out the grains in the wood wonderfully.
The varnish will protect your wood and make it beautiful!  For my dots, I applied three coats of varnish.  Before applying additional coats of varnish, lightly sand any rough areas, thoroughly clean and apply your next coat!

Come back to my site in a couple of days to see where I am using the Dot Coat Hooks!