OMG refinishing furniture is hard!

So my to-do list from earlier today was shockingly unrealistic. Actually, had I not attempted to refinish our dining room table, I think it might've all happened. However, I chose to start with the hardest thing not really understanding just how hard it was.

I say attempted, because I completed the first two steps of the base. More work left to do, but that will have to be another day!

Can I just say that if any of you have notions of refinishing a piece of furniture, reconsider.

If it's just a straight flat surface, go for it. But our table has tons of curves and nooks and crannies, and I literally splattered toxic burning remover on myself about 20 times this afternoon. And the mosquitoes came out to play.

I definitely thought about quitting a bunch of times. However, beyond having to pay several hundred dollars to replace the table, I also kept thinking how good it would feel and how much of an accomplishment it would be to do this. At least this once!

I post about this because A) it's on my mind, and B) it just goes to show what we can accomplish when we are motivated!

So although it's not completely finished, I detached the base and finished stripping that. It just needs the fine detailing done later, then sanding and staining. But when i look at it outside right now, what I see is a stripped down table. Yay!!

It's kind've like my weight loss mini-goals. I'm getting there!

And Alex certainly did his fair share because he ran to three different stores for me (in the middle of his football no less), and then when he forgot something, went back out again.