Neverending Table Project

Lately I've been reading lots of decorating blogs and scouring Pinterest for frugal decorating ideas...and getting unbearably inspired to do some projects of my own. Thursday I decided to tackle my kitchen table which had been bothering me because the table top is made of a very light wood which doesn't really go with the paneling in our kitchen. I began the project with spirit and vigor...it was great fun. I figured that I could do the whole project in an afternoon and then put the kitchen back to normal. Ah, naievte...

Project this evening after priming and two coats of paint.

Let me first mention that the table cost $150 brand new out of the box in 2006, which should clue you in to its quality. I was reminded of this as I was taking the spindles off the chairs so I could sand the seats and noticed that a lot of them were cracked near the bottom. I mostly noticed this because of the splintering sound as the bastards came apart! I attempted for fix the breaks with wood glue and sighs of frustration which may or may not have included some words that shouldn't be part of a lady's vocabulary. After sanding and putting the chairs back together because I was afraid of breaking any more spindles, I started the painting. The above results were achieved only with THREE coats of paint. Yes. I would call that number EXCESSIVE. That is, one coat of primer and two coats of paint. It was painstakingly tedious and long. Took several hours. I even painted over the brokenness.

Recall that the plan with this table was to paint the legs green and then stain the top and seats a darker shade of brown. I had taken the chairs apart and fought with broken spindles for the sake of sanding down the seats. Today I applied the stain to disastrously hideous results.

Seems like I didn't sand off enough (couldn't tell whether I was down to bare wood or not). The stain seeped into all the tiny cracks and beautifully highlighted all of the beatings the seat's endured over the years. And now I definitely can't take off the spindles to sand some more because the wimps will break. My options are to a) paint the seats green and then apply polyurethane over them or b) apply the polyurethane and just to-hell-with-it preserve the current color which was the reason for this project all along.

The table top may still be able to be stained, but we'll have to bust out the power sander. But if I do that, then the seats of the chairs will not match the table top, but the table top will match the room. The hubs really doesn't want the chairs painted completely green, but I think it's going to be the best looking option. Personally, I quite enjoy the green chairs dancing around my head!

I just want this project to be over!