you are about to be assaulted with hundreds of pictures of my newly refinished dining set...

Y'all know that I've been refinishing a dining room table and chairs, with the help and guidance of my dear friend Jami.

It's been quite the process, I must say.

But worth it. Totally and completely.

It's finished, you guys! And the table and chairs are looking lovely in my dining room right now.

Here are the pictures: pre, during, and post...

Solid wood table from the 1960s. I never was a fan of the orange-ish stain...

And the chairs, as-purchased.

Jami and I set up a tarp in the basement to protect stuff worth protecting in the next room.

Sanding. Gosh, all the sanding created so much dust.
Poor Jami, who's allergic to dust, sneezed like crazy!

Giving it some elbow grease!

DONE SANDING!

Taped and primed!

The table: painted

We painted the chairs in Jami and JR's garage so we didn't die of fumes.

Painted and antiqued:

AQUA

MELLOW SPRING

JELLYFISH

LA FONDA MIRAGE

RIVIERA DUNE

Post-stain, pre-gloss.

Yep. It's been a lot of work. And rather fun. Jami has been a patient teacher, and I feel like I might not run away if the opportunity to refinish more furniture presented itself again, you know? And that's kind of saying something. Because crafting (and anything somewhat related to it) takes me to a dark place, typically. Not this time, though! 

Here are some pictures of the finished project:

My table and chairs without the leaf.

With the leaf.

SWOON!!

And here's my homemade table runner (that Jane helped me with)
on my refinished, dark-stained table.

Wow, huh? I'm all smiles this evening. And I'll enjoy my hard work for a long time to come. (My hard work, and Jami's. Obviously.)