Our First Refurbishing Project... the Kitchen Table!

A couple weekends ago, we took on our first refurbishing project- a "new" kitchen table and chairs. I sold our table a few months ago. It was beautiful, but it was big (seated 8), tall (I'm short), and didn't fit in our kitchen nook. So I sold it, pocketed the cash, and waited for the perfect table to arise. I knew the style and size that I wanted, and it was pretty common and easy to find on Craigslist, but always difficult to contact the owner, visit the piece, find a truck, etc.

One day I was visiting ReStore and found exactly what I was looking for! And it was 20% off that day too- SCORE. I called my husband, got the OK, and bought that baby. Here is what it looked like in the store...

 

Light oak top and forest green paint... oh yeah. And don't forget the STICKERS! can you spot them?

The next day I talked a friend into helping me pick it up and bring it to the house. That night, my friend Dave hung around, and the three of us (husband included), set to work sanding it. We sanded by hand, because we hadn't originally planned on re-staining the top (silly me).

Ready to start- all of the supplies on top!

The boys sanding away while I snap pictures!

Lots of progress, but still more to go. Done for the night.

The next day, I used nap time to continue the sanding (which is the worst part, by the way). But this time I got smart and borrowed an electric sander from my sister-in-law....

my soul-mate....

This literally took 5 minutes with the electric sander!

 On that fateful day, MY LIFE WAS CHANGED. I love that electric sander- I want to sand everything now! After less than 2 hours, I had completed every bit of sanding! OK, not every bit... there were still tiny bits in between the bars on the chairs...but everything else!!!

The next day, my friend Kandice came over with her baby Logan, and I put her to work too. What great friends we have! She finished the little bits of sanding while I prepped the table. In a few short hours we finished sanding, and stained all of the seats and the top of the table!

Kandice working hard!

The babies were simply overseeing the project

  Being our first staining job, we actually did it incorrectly (who reads directions!?). You are supposed to paint it on, let sit, and WIPE OFF after a few minutes. We missed the wiping part, so it stained darker than planned. This is just one coat of 'red oak' stain. I'm glad we forgot though, because I LOVE the dark color! We also started painting the legs of the table and chairs black- it was really coming together.

This roller designed for cabinets was THE BEST!

What Kandice and I accomplished... we loved the matte finish! But we had to seal it...

When my husband got home that night, we started the backs of the chairs and touch-up painting. I was ready to BE DONE. But alas, not yet...

And finally on Saturday, we (actually, Daniel) painted 3 coats of sealant on everything to finally FINISH IT!!!

Then we set the table aside to dry for a few days, and leave room for the upcoming WINDOW SEAT- see next post for this :). In all, it took us about 4 days total to finish this table That was through the work week with babies to care for and some evenings full of events, so others may be able to finish faster- like a weekend!

 

Here it is... all finished! Not too shabby for our first time :)