before and after Archives

I smell snow. And new episodes of Gilmore Girls.

I have a confession to make. I love watching Gilmore Girls just a little bit too much. I’ve watched all 7 seasons several times. Watching with friends, watching alone, watching with a bowl of snacks, you name it. I’ve done it.

So when Netflix announced a new season of Gilmore Girls, almost 10 years after its original run, I was excited. To say the least. I’m sure this anticipation was helped along by Netflix’s rather comprehensive (and well done) post-launch marketing campaign.

The big night found me at my friend Shauna’s house with 9 other women and 1 young gentleman (go, Ben!). The lights were low, the coffee pot was brewing, 3 kinds of pizza and 20 unhealthy snacks were scattered across the living room. We were ready.

Our mini table makeover

I’ve always had this idea that refinishing furniture would be a fulfilling, joyous project to undertake. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t learn otherwise until my second chemical burn in fifteen minutes (boo! to paint stripper) and was too far in to bow out gracefully. So, before you start your first refinishing project, let me give you fair warning:

Refinishing furniture is a work of love. It costs more and takes longer than you think it will. It takes time, patience, and several very thick pairs of rubber gloves.

Still with me? Bravo. Splendid. Well done. We shall begin.

Before

As previously mentioned, my husband and I have produced a few children. We wanted to set up a kids’ computer on the main floor – we hear computer literacy is big these days – but didn’t have room for a full desk. My search on Varage sale found me a wooden child-sized table and chair for $10. Perfect.

The table and chair looked something like this when I got them:

The table and chair had taken a bit of a beating in the past, as well as being painted in bright primary colors. Now I have nothing against bright colors (you should come over and see my house sometime), but this 90’s retro-chic just wasn’t what I was going for.

So for my first ever furniture stripping project, I decided to tackle the table. I’ve done a fair amount of painting over the years, and figured refinishing would be a roughly equivalent amount of effort. Right? Riiiight.