My first DIY

Back in September when we decided to buy our house, I got very exited and started on multiple projects. Our kitchen table being one of them. Now that we were going to be home owners I had to get somewhat crafty, right?  I bought this old craft table for $50. It needed a lot of lovin' as you can see, so I got right to work! 

 The first step was to sand it, and boy did that take forever. I used an electronic sander. I started with a thick grained sandpaper. Each layer I changed my grit until my last layer when I used the finest sandpaper. As each layer began to peel away, I began to really LOVE the gorgeous table that was hiding underneath. The pattern in the grains were my favorite! 

The second step is to stain the table. This step I has to do a few times because the first time around my mom and I sort of messed it up. Let's just say we had never stained anything, so we weren't sure the exact way to do it. We watched a couple of YouTube videos and we were sure we were set. We went out into the yard where the table was set up. Her job was to dump the stain and my job was to wipe away. Within the first seconds it was totally ruined. We both looked at each other and started yelling and running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We tried to renew the damage we had already inflicted on the helpless table, but it was too late. After having my dad, the master of anything DIY, come out and take a look he said we needed to re sand it and then we would try again. So we went through the whole process of sanding again. My hands were very sore after this second time around. The second time staining we decided to get my dad to come help us out a bit. With the three of us all at work, we made it work. The strain I used was a  called: Minwax 1qt Gel Stain in Aged Oak.  We applied two coats. 

We finished off the table with a primer to seal in all the blood, sweat and tears we put into it. ha. 

Finding chairs for my table was my second mission. I searched on KSL for days trying to look for the perfect chairs. Until I finally found these. The woman selling them was selling a table with them as well but I begged her to separate them. She thought it was very strange that I just wanted the chairs. But she gave in. YAY! I bought the chairs for $50. The chairs were the same finish as the table when it started out. So I sanded the seats and stained the seats with the same stain as I did the table. Then I spray painted the chairs and the legs to the table with a white spray paint. I wish I had taken a before picture of the chairs, so you could see the difference. 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 

TOTAL DOLLARS SPENT: $136.00

 I learned a lot of things during this intense DIY project. One of those being .... never do a DIY project. ha. Just kidding, but I think I do need a little bit of a break. This table was really time consuming. Next time I know to do a little more research before jumping right into it. 

 But to be honest it's so fun to sit at our table every night and say I DID THIS! It is self-fulfilling you could say. So I suggest if you are looking for a fulfilling project, try a DIY!