Refinishing a Mid-Century Coffee Table

I had refinished a small Lane table before, but sanding down this new coffee table was quite a lot of work. Those spots I had mentioned earlier were very deep stains, so it's taken a good couple hours to sand it down (me and Ely together). It looks like it is almost ready for the first stain, and we have never stained furniture before, unless you count Restore-A-Finish. So here it is now:

Basically, we used that Zip Strip paint remover there and then sanded it down 'til it looks like this. Tomorrow we will finish it up, and pretty soon hopefully I'll have some successful "after" photos to share!

Meanwhile, I do have some other successful "after" photos. It is Ely's compact stereo! We used the dark walnut Restore a Finish and some  Feed 'n Wax. 

Beautiful! 

We also did some thrift store shopping today, and came out with some really good deals.

A great little ashtray I will use to put my keys in.

Pillows! Ely will try these on his new sofa. Such amazing vintage fabrics on these.

Fransiscan ware 'Madiera' glasses. Ely has a collection of Madiera at his house but has never found the glasses 'til today at Value Village. 

And finally, a large C. Jere wall hanging from 1971. Not bad for $7. We were leaving as I saw a store worker outside throw this into a sorting bin. I would have prefered a C. Jere from '61 but this is cool!

 TTFN

A Weekend of Finds!

Ely found a couple beauties for his apartment last weekend- A mini stereo and a coffee table.

Both needed a little love, but they were too good to pass up.

That is the coffee table outside of the Goodwill thrift store we bought it at for $7!

Ely informed me that he tried to restore-a-finish it, which unfortunately caused the worn parts to become too dark....  We will have to go at it with some sand paper this weekend and start over. Still, it will be amazing when its all finished.

The stereo is tiny! Only a few feet tall and perfect for Ely's apartment. We will post photos later on when we finish cleaning them up.

TTFN!