THE refinishing project

BEFORE:

Buffet table. Loved the design, but had water damage on top and something had to be done with the gold hardware.

 

Dining chair (set of 4)

 

Dining table.  Actually in pretty good shape.  I fell in love with it because it has these two main panels (in picture) and a drop down leave on each side (not pictured because they’d already been removed) AND 3 more leaves that can be added in the middle.  This range in length made it the perfect table for apartment living!

 

I laugh now. But I cried then. SO much sanding.  I actually sanded the entire table with 60 grit BY HAND—yup like holding a flimsy piece of sandpaper in my hand—before finally borrowing a hand sander.  I used that to go over it again with a finer grit and do the chairs and buffet table from the beginning. This made the job a lot easier, but STILL there was so much sanding that I’m replacing this friend’s sander.  I wore right through it. I know now. I will know what I’m getting myself into next time.

 

While Darin and Kayden took a quick weekend trip to Utah, I spent most of my waking hours priming and painting.  OOPS! Didn’t see on the can that the primer was blue/gray.  Just means more coats of paint to cover it.  yippee.

 

After the paint.

 

You can see in this picture, the table doesn’t look so white anymore.  I roughly sanded the edges and rubbed dark walnut colored stain and rubbed it off.  It was just enough to give it the more aged look I wanted (although you can see it much better on the buffet table). Oh- and yes, our apartment was a wreck for a while there.  Poor Kayden was barricaded out of the dining/kitchen areas.

 

Then the clear coats (3 on top to make it more water resistant—2 on the rest). Thank goodness reupholstering the chairs was easy! And got the fabric for a steal!

So the dining set was exciting, but I have to admit that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the buffet table.  It has so much more character.  I did the same as for the table, but I also spray painted the hardware to look like a pewter metal—super cool new spray paints they have.

 

So…this is what you see when you come in the front door. Oh! and this is where I should introduce our new piano!  well, new to us.  We love her.

 

YEAH!!  This is the first time Darin and I have had a real dining table since we’ve been married! (Notice Kayden is ready for the prayer—so cute!)

 

I got it done in time to host 13 people for Thanksgiving dinner!

Pretty good excuse for not blogging for a while, right?