Gate-leg table

My beautiful table. 

It started out in rough shape.  I thought I'd just sand it down, slap some fresh paint on it and restain the top.  Well it needed a lot more work than I realized.

This is the table that we ate at when I was little.  (Notice the sweet little baby in the background!)

It was next to the wall heater and the paint would get hot and bubble.  I remember picking at it.  When I moved to my first apartment it was the only thing that would fit in my little breakfast nook.

I took it apart to make it easier to sand. The finish came off the top with just a touch of the sander. The paint on the legs though wasn't going to come off with sanding. I had to use three applications of Citristrip to get through three layers of paint. The legs had also been broken and repaired several times so I refixed some of the breaks and filled some holes. Then primed, painted, and polycryliced the bottom. The top should have been easy, but I messed it up five times before I was done. First I had an uneven stain that I didn't notice until I waxed it. So I sanded it down and started over. Then after I'd restained it I got splatters of paint on it from another project. Sanded that down, restained, and rewaxed. It was gorgeous. Then for extra protection I put on some polycrylic. Well, if I'd thought that through I would have realized that it wouldn't stick to wax. I was so annoyed with myself. While I was sanding it down, again, I made a big scratch across the top and accidentally sanded the edge too much in one spot. So I think the whole table is a little smaller now! Anyway, finally I got it restained, and just did rub on poly instead of wax. And it's really pretty now.

It looks a little reddish in the sun. I think it's fir but I'm not sure. It's very soft.

Ahh...so pretty.

I used all the original hardware. I cleaned them up a little but left some of the old paint.

Here it is in the house.

With some stuff on it. This is the first time I've tried to "stage" a shot. It's definitely not my strong suit.

Gary saw the bell and was going to get it!

Linking to:
Primitive and Proper
Miss Mustard Seed