Updating the Dining Table

Almost 7 weeks ago, I quit my job and it was SO liberating. That's not what this post is about though, I'll save that for another time.  This post is about the first thing I decided to do with my newly acquired free time!

Our dining room table was a wonderful hand-me-down from a dear family friend.  I was so grateful for this thing, and I still am.  It went with me into my first apartment in college, my 2 off campus houses, and my first post-college apartment.  Then it went with me into our first apartment as married people, then our second, and then into our brand new home, where it remains today.  

Needless to say, this table has some memories!  

Some of the memories/highlights that stick out in my mind about this table are:

~Eating "family dinners" around it with my amazing roommates on Deer Park.  We would invite all the S.O.'s over, cook something easy-like tacos or spaghetti-and sit around it while we ate, talked, and mostly laughed. Those were some fun times. 

~Again on Deer Park-we used this table for various drinking games on our Thursday Theme Nights..those were AMAZING nights, and some of my favorite memories of college.

~When I lived at River Oak after college with one of my best buddies and her then-toddler, we had some more "family dinners" and I remember that AB had her own little table in the corner, because she was just a little too short to sit at the table.  While I was sanding, I found some stamps, (in various animal/princess shapes), on the base. I think I can guess where those came from. :)

~After we were married, the table became the one place (in our apartments) where almost everyone could sit for a meal.  (Unless of course there were more than 4 people).  I remember having our parents and various friends over for dinner, and we always ate at the table.  These were the days when I learned to love cooking and entertaining.  

~Since moving into our house, we have had the table in 2 spots. Sometimes with all the leaves, sometimes without, but it's awesome to have options!  Either way, I am still enjoying putting a meal on it. In the last 10 months, we have had lots of people over for dinner, lots of breakfasts with our families, and Mom & I carved pumpkins here this year.

While all those memories were being made, the table took some abuse.  Plus, it no longer matched the decor.  We looked at other tables at Ikea, and almost bought one, but alas, it didn't fit in the car. Nor did it quite fit our particular budget that day.  It doesn't matter though, the point is we didn't buy it, and now I know why!

I'm not sure where the idea to update it came from.  Probably Pinterest.  I'd been talking about updating a lot of the pieces in our house, because hardly any of them match each other, much less the walls and decor.  The table seemed like a good place to start. There really wasn't much to lose. (Plus it's one of the few things in our house made of real wood that would sand down the right way.) I looked up some tutorials, bought a hand sander and some stain, and got to work!

My first step was sanding down the entire thing, all the way down to the grain. I didn't want any stain or lacquer left, because I needed the new stain to take and stick.  I started on a sunny Sunday, and by the end of the day, this is what I had: 

I sanded one leaf, and left the other for the next day.

I spent the next 3 (maybe 4) days sanding the other leaf, the rest of the top, the base, and the legs.  The best thing for this was the discovery that the entire thing comes apart..the legs & top come off the base, and the top can be pulled apart.  It would have sucked way more if they didn't.  All in all, the sanding wasn't bad.  There was a small issue with the fact that the base is wavy/curvy...but I managed, and only got super frustrated once, right at the end.  I'd been working for several hours, and the sander was driving me nuts.  I couldn't look at it anymore, so I made Ben finish the last little bit. :)

Here are all the pieces sanded down. (See those rings in the base? Those were a pain!)

After sanding, it was time for the fun part! I put on 2 coats of stain-which took roughly 2 days, (I used Rustoleum in Ebony), and 3 coats of polyurethane on top of that. (Which took another day). All I did was follow the directions on the cans as far as time between coats, painting with the grain, etc. I used a rag with the stain, to wipe of excess and even it out a little bit.  The picture below is after 2 coats of stain, before the polyurethane. Also, let me just say I froze during this process. It was in the 20's outside, which means the garage was in the 40s.  I wore 2 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, gloves and a hat.  It worked though, I just turned on some Christmas music and went to town! =D

You can kind of tell in the picture, but I am one MESSY painter. (Mom-I know you are shocked).  Luckily I knew this already, so I had a drop cloth that took up the entire area I was working in.  

The can said to let it cure for 7 days.  I finished up on Thursday before we left for vacation on Saturday, so I left everything where it was while we were gone.  We did put the top back on the base, and the leaves on some boxes so the bottom of all the pieces would dry.  When we returned from our vacation, we moved the table back into the house! This had to be done slowly, but we did it, and this is the final product!

I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I still don't know what to do about the chairs (I have no desire to try to sand them, way too intricate), but I'll figure it out soon. I wasn't sure if I could handle something so crafty, but I think it went great! Even Ben said he thought it was out of my reach, but he likes it too!  

I am super inspired to try some other pieces now, but I think I'll wait until spring. :)