Dining Room Re-Do

 This is the before. Not too bad but my hand-me-down table I've had for 6 years and my Big Lots chairs were pretty dated in my opinion. And I feel like it just needed more.

 My tools. I will say sanding the table wasn't what I thought. My first attempt didn't get all the polyurethane off so I had to sand again. The second sanding did it, I got down to the white wood. I read online you should sand from coarse to fine grit, which is what I did. I sanded with 60 and then 220 to get a nice smooth finish. Only problem being the "dark walnut" stain I chose didn't sink in the pores of the wood because it was too finely sanded. The table as you see it has three coats of dark stain. At first I thought I would have to start over yet a third time but the longer I look at it, the more I like it. Especially with the dark chairs and grey table legs. It no longer has that yellowed look to it.

 The finished product! Pretty proud of myself!

The lighter table. I did distress it with a hammer, nail holes, a screwdriver head. So it definitely has some serious character now. You can see more of the grain of the wood because the stain did sink into the wood striations more, giving it more depth. I still need to give it a coat of Polyacrylic finish. The polyacrylic is a clear topcoat, unlike polyurethane, which gives the yellow appearance that the table had before. I don't think I did too bad giving new life to an old family table and bargain chairs! It will do for a few more years until I get my Pottery Barn dream farmhouse table :)