Friday, October 3, 2008

thank you, elizabeth peters

Behold the fruits of September. We inherited an old coffee table, kitchen table, and 4 chairs from our condo owner. They were all a dull brown, and we've been going for a strikingly rich and seductively simple black-brown in our wood decor. I made it through 2 of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries on CD while sanding, refinishing, and sealing the furniture. That comes out to approximately 30 labor hours.

A few reasons to appreciate the final product, and its creator:

- All labor was done with the strength of me. No power sander.
- I used a Q-tip in some parts.
- Turning wood that isn't stripped down to just the natural wood (no power sander, remember?) from brown to black takes 8 thin coats of finish.
- The first table attempt failed, and had to be redone, from start to finish.
- The table legs detach. After working on just the tabletop, I had to attach the legs. Did I mention the tabletop weighs about 500 pounds? I propped the tabletop onto 4 chairs, then added books on top of each chair to ratchet the table up, 2.5 inches at a time. My forearms, biceps, and shoulder ached for the next week.







Kitchen table and chairs. Really, 500 pounds. It expands with 2 leaves, as well.





The coffee table is our deck table. The chairs don't really work there, but they don't fit anywhere else.

6 comments:

Dawn said...

And I thought you didn't have any staining experience! Makes my approximately 10 hours of staining the deck look like child's play! The tables and chairs look stunning! Aren't you glad you did it?

AdamAndMelaine said...

Wow, the table looks amazing, Erin!I am very impressed. That is my dream to be able to do something like that! I watch the Home and Garden channel all too often and always see them doing those kinds of home projects, and I get so inspired to join the fun, but haven't found the gusto to do something quite as gutsy as what you did! Way to go.

amydear said...

Wow! Looks great. I love the deck furniture, too. So sorry you won't be using much until next spring. I hope winter holds off for a bit.

Mary Poppins said...

erin, what can't you do? move over martha.

Sarah said...

Those turned out excellent. I don't have the patience for proper refinishing techniques. Kudos.

Mrs B said...

Lovely work! I wish I would inherit something nice to refinish. My hand-me-downs are usually not worth the time & are made of particle board & laminate. My, what talent you have, Martha.