The kitchen table

Back in January I posted about our kitchen table.  That post caused me to be filled with so much nostalgia and sentimentality that I couldn't bear to part with it.  The pictures don't quite do justice to the wear and use the table exhibited, and Richard was excited about the new table.  With promises to restore the old, abused table to a new glory, I insisted we keep it.  We gave away our new table to a good home. 

Months... later...

Our old abused table has been restored.  It was a project of massive undertaking, and I spent countless hours on it.  Let 2012 be remembered as "The Year of the Table."

We ate at a card table (or out on the picnic table when weather permitted) for months.  For the better part of a year to be truthful.  But alas! She is finished, and we love her.  We look forward to more debates, laughter, games, budgets, homework, crafts and meals on her newly stained surface. 

Our last meal at the card table.  

Okay, so these pictures make the perfectionist in me squirm a little bit.  I used paint and a water based polycrylic on the chairs and table legs, and then I stained the table top and used an oil based polyurethane.  I also used a paint sprayer on the chairs and a foam brush on the table top, so there is an obvious difference in "shine."  This bothers me.  But Richard is rolling his eyes as he reads this because he is so happy that it's done.  He'll never let me touch it again. 

She isn't without her flaws- no amount of sanding could remove these knarly marks where the Hall family's first bassett hound made use of her puppy teeth.  But such imperfections arouse pleasant memories.  (Please ignore the cherry tomato from last night's dinner.)

So you'll just have to come see it yourself, or take my word for it that it looks better in person.  Just like the "Before" pictures don't do justice to the wear and tear, these "After" pictures don't do justice to the new glory.