When my hometown library was renovated a few years back, they sold all of the old furniture. My mom is a librarian there, so she bought this great table and 5 chairs. It sat in my parents garage covered in boxes and dust for years until Dave and I finally rescued it last year. It was in pretty rough shape – hideous orange color, dirty, bald spots, splinters sticking out, etc. But it is such a cool table that we could see the potential in it.

We decided to strip and refinish them so they could be presentable! We learned that the refinishing process is not easy, not perfect, and definitely not quick. We started the process on the chairs before Thanksgiving 2007, and just finally finished all of the pieces. Whew!! I’m not sure how well the pictures show the drastic change, but we can definitely tell. Now it is a table that we can actually use for our dining table. That is, until we can afford furniture again and it becomes the most awesome craft table ever.

Check out that beautiful wood grain! This was almost completely hidden with the old stain and finish.

If you are looking to start a refinishing project, here are my tips: give yourself LOTS of time, do it in the garage during nice weather months, and don’t expect it to be perfect.

Hooray!!! I’m so happy this project is done! Now I can’t wait to eat our first dinner on it in Oregon. T minus 6 days until we leave.