Project done!

Several weeks ago we found a dining table and 6 chairs (something we had been looking for for years) on Craigslist -- for $140! We snatched them up and brought them home. The table was pretty banged up on top, and the chairs' fabric seats were very stained, but we figured we could fix them up. Then, school started, a few housing snafus happened, and things were a little chaotic for awhile, so the project took a little longer than we thought... For several days, this was our dining room:

Pete had the table out in the garage, and worked on it for HOURS.... sanding, staining, re-sanding, re-staining, re-sanding, and putting on coats of polyeurathane. But at last it's DONE!

We had our first, inaugural meal on the table last night with some friends. (not pictured above -- I promise, we had REAL people over)

For my part of the project, I recovered the chair seats. They did look like this:

... and although I liked the look of the light-colored fabric, I knew that if I put new, similar fabric back on, it would be approximately 7.2 minutes before all 6 chairs were stained again. So, I opted for an oh-so-hip textured vinyl fabric instead! What it may lack in style, it should make up for in ease-of-wiping.


So, with about $60 in supplies and fabric, we have a "new," practical dining room set and we're very happy. Oh -- and a special bonus: our wood-working neighbor who came over part-way through the project to give us some advice told us that the table top is likely made of poplar wood -- perfect for all the work our Poplar Streams Academy students will be doing on it!