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.