at long last...

This past spring break (yep, end of March), I decided to paint and refinish our "dining room" table. A good week-long project, I thought. Hah! I just finished this week! It's October. I definitely could have finished it before now, but with a nanny job this summer and my full-time job starting at the beginning of August, I didn't have many full days to work on it. Plus, using oil paint in 100+ degree heat didn't speed up the process. Here's what the table looked like before:

 

The table was a hand-me-down from my sister, and it had a hard, light maple finish. Here are the steps I had to take to get it to what it is now:

1) Sand it all down

2) Prime everything

3) Paint two coats of white oil paint (I called Uncle Phil a lot during this process!)

4) Strip and sand the table top with an electric sander

5) Stain the table top

6) Paint two coats of polyurethane on the table top

7) Sand it all again 

8) Paint on a gel stain and rub it all off (my mom helped with this)

I know you probably could care less about all of the steps, but I'm just trying to justify why it took me so darn long! Here's the final product:

 

I think that Peyton's favorite part about it being done is the fact that he can park his car in the garage again. He has been patient!