One down, a million more to go

So I did it! I finally finished a project! Lol I think I may need a party.  I probably don't deserve one though because it took me over a month to do it and it was finished back in August and I'm just now posting it.  I'm lame I know.

Nevertheless, here it is!

I bought this well built table, two Parson chairs, and a bench off of KSL Classifieds for $60.  The lady told me it was built in Alaska, so I tend to think it is better built ;)  Probably because of this talented lady.

As you can see, aesthetically it was in definite need of a face-lift.  Most of the finish was worn off or scratched and I wanted a deep chocolate color stain instead anyways.  It is a beautiful rich color that you can still see the grain through.

Here it is with my 2 mocha brown Parson's chairs, and some chairs my sister gave me.

I'm still planning on recovering the Parson's chairs with some wipe-able white faux leather fabric and then building 4 more just like them so I will have all matching chairs.  FYI: My husband is a professional upholsterer who used to do it full time and now does it on the side, so he will be the one doing all that work! Although I will try to watch and pick up some tips when we get to that.

First thing we did was sand the remaining finish off with our palm sander in the direction of the grain

{Make sure to have a little kid wave their hand right in front of the camera as soon as you take the pic ;)}

I didn't manage to get pictures of the next steps, but all I did was:

• Vacuum the table of all of the dust. 
• Wiped down with a wet cloth.  Then let fully dry.
• Applied a dark brown stain called Kona from Rust-Oleum on all surfaces of the table, let dry.
• Put a few coats of poly-urethane on, finely sanding in-between coats.

Make sure to read the instructions on the products you are using and let it cure in a well ventilated area for a few days.  The longer the better!  You don't want all that hard work to get dinged and scratched up as soon as you bring it back in the house!

I'm so happy with end results.  Much better than my last table re-do. I think with the supplies and the cost of the table and chairs this cost me about $80.  I have TONS of stain and poly-urethane left too.  I maybe used 1/10th of both cans, so there is a lot left for other projects.  Also this room is pretty much a blank slate.  I still have painting and decorating to do in here... just like pretty much every other room in my house.  One day or project at a time :)