My Craigslist Table ~

This is a story about my over priced, no good Craigslist table. It started off great, I picked up my old new table and was excited about giving him a new lease on life...in Behr Black. He looked a little like this -

I instantly loved the base...

But soon after his arrival, I noticed his base had a sever nick and the top had been broken (and fixed). So at this point, I knew I paid too much, but I was still happy to start painting my new lovely table. Since I was planning on painting the table, I decided to simply prime the surface instead of stripping it first. 

I used Zinsser 123, and it covered great.

Priming was done, so onto the paint. I turned to the great Behr Premium Plus in black  - I heart this paint and it lasts forever!

 Now the base looked great, but the top was horrible and I think it was due to the brush strokes from the primer. I just kinda slopped it on - clearly that was the wrong technique. And I decided at this point, that a stained top and a black base would look the best. I must say I was starting to lose a little enthusiasum, but I kept on going. I turned to the great Citristrip (I heart this stuff too) and stripped off all of my hard work.

 Now, here is the part that made me want to burn this table. So I will make it brief (for your pleasure and definitely for mine)! Here is my newly stripped table. Ready to be stained.

Unfortunately, I couldn't quite find the stain I liked and ended up staining and stripping this table about 5 times - and mind you, I had three leaves to go along with this wonderful top. I would stain all the pieces and then strip all of the pieces...

Stain 1

Stain 2

Stain 3

And after that, I just stopped taking photos. The tears were too overwhelming and I just couldn't see clearly...So after the tears and the rage, I took a few weeks off. And diverted my eyes every time I walked into the garage. At this point, I really disliked this table and my enthusiasum was completely shattered. I have learned through this process, I don't like the grain in oak furniture. I decided one more time, and this time I turned to black stain - Minwax Polyshades in Classic Black Satin.

And it was great! So great.

 So picture me now, happy, smiling and I can't wait for it to dry so I can bring it inside and begin to enjoy my hard work. 

And what does my darling hubby say when we bring it in? "I don't like it." Agh...really, are you kidding me! I must say I value his opinion and I am happy he has one, but at this point this was the last thing I wanted to hear.

After a days of saddness (or maybe just anger for buying this table in the first place) I prepared a few photos for Craigslist. 

But I soon realized, I did love this table. And I loved all of my hard work I put into it. And even though I spend weeks days on this baby, it was my time and I was able to get lost in the project - you know that feeling where you can forget about everything else and just focus on one thing?

So now, I am thinking about making it a table for my kiddos playroom. Stay tuned to find out how this horrible great project turns out!