HOW TO: Refinishing a dining room table

For Mother's day, I decided I would refinish my mom's boring dining room table! She bought this because it was functional when they moved to Virginia. There stuff was lost by the moving company for over a month.. so she just want stuff they could use, and of course... it never left.

Here is a picture of the chairs... to give you an idea. Nothing special, or notable about the set.

If you have ever considered doing a table, I highly suggest you purchase an electric sander. After watching me try to sand for two hours with no success, my Husband decided this would be a good mothers day gift for me. Thanks babe! 

Luckily, I only needed to sand the top! 

I used Minwax Jacobean stain on the top. 

Always been a favorite of mine. 

I started painting the piece using a Home Depot "Pro" grade brush. And I finally learned something... the brush you use really does matter. And I can't stress enough how much I love my "vintage effects" brush from Woodster. I had to clean my brush and use it wet just to take a picture to prove my point. 

First coat with Home Depot "Pro" brush 

EWW! I would be painting forever. 

Here is my first coat with the Woodster Vintage Effects brush.. which by the way is CHEAPER. 

Thats more like it. Oh! and in case you were wondering, I chose the color "Irish Dew" 

So... after painting... I used a satin poly on the top, and waxed the rest. Waxing chairs sucks. I had hand cramps for a week ): 

But the result was well worth it!