My super fab table

Since I haven't really had a dining room in 7 years, I haven't had a dining room table, either. The table that RF and I had when we were first married is s small, cafe type table, with a glass top that I never thought would work well with kids. We've just used TV trays or lap desks on the floor and it has been fine. Since our new house has an eat in kitchen, we decided we needed an actual table to eat at. I have a friend that owns some property and she said to me one day "I had a tenant move out and leave a bunch of stuff behind and one of the things is a table, do you want it?" I said sure since free is free, even if it is junk.

We picked it up and the side rails (made of crappy pressboard, you can see the cracks in the first two pictures) were cracked at the screw holes and the top was a mess. The top was real wood though and I decided that I could give refinishing it a shot. I called my FIL and got his electric sanders and RF and I went to town on it. This picture is right after we started sanding for the first time

When RF was dragging it out the second day, he pulled one of the legs off because the press board was cracked under there too. He sent me to Menard's to get 2x4s and have them cut to fit the table. He attached them for me and we were ready to paint. This picture is after the final sanding.

After it was completely sanded, I had to wipe it all down with mineral spirits to get all the dust off and then I put on 3 coats of varnish to the top and sides (I felt like it could use another couple so it was all perfectly glass like and smooth, but 3 was really plenty). After that was all dry, we flipped it over on some towels and painted the legs and the new side rails white. This is the final picture. As soon as I get all the boxes out of my kitchen, it is ready to be used. Total cost of the table: $15. Total time investment:5 hours.

Now that I have figured out that it is oh so easy to refinish a table, I'm having RF take apart my OLD ugly dark wood end tables that my parents bought when I was about 3 and then gave to me when I moved out 10 years ago and I'm redoing them in a nice light color.