An Introduction to Refinishing Furniture

     Last summer I came across this gorgeous wooden table at Goodwill.  The paint had worn off in places and it was missing some hardware (see below), but it only cost $3, so I figured there was no reason not to buy it and try fixing it up.  My original plan was to give it a coat of glittery spray paint, but Brian pointed out that this table was actually really nice and perhaps we should fix it up properly.  So I looked up how to refinish furniture online and decided to give it a try.  After all, how difficult could it be?  Cue foreboding horror movie music.
     It might not have been so bad had I selected a nice, flat, rectangular table, but this table was full of curves and indentations that required lots of hand sanding.  If your intended DIY project sounds anything like mine, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you a seasoned refinisher with years of experience refinishing tricky furniture items?
2. Are you a masochist?
3. Do you enjoy monotony and do you have endless wells of patience?

If you answered yes to 1, you should probably be writing this post instead of me because I know nothing about refinishing furniture aside from this one experience with my (evil) table.  If you answered yes to 2 or 3, congratulations!  Try refinishing your furniture item at your own risk.  If you answered no to all 3, put down the sandpaper, take three steps back from the furniture item (slowly, and with your eyes fixed on the object so that it cannot sneak up on you), and get out while you still can.
     If you have a more manageable furniture item or choose to proceed in spite of my warnings, here are some tips to help you along with your project.  For more detailed instructions on refinishing furniture, see e.g. HowStuffWorks.

Materials:
*100 grit medium sandpaper
*220 grit very fine sandpaper
*Stain and polyurethane coating (can be a 2 in 1 combo, like I used, or separate)
*Paintbrush
*Sander (optional, but highly recommended)
*Protective goggles
*Ventilation mask
*Ear muffs (if you're using a sander)

Tips:
*Do not use any sandpaper of lower quality than 100 grit.  Brian and I got some 80 grit paper in hopes that it would speed up the sanding process and it did, but it left scratches in the wood.
*If you have access to a sander (and if it is an appropriate tool for your project), I recommend using it.  Hand sanding is no fun.
*If you're not looking for perfection (which, if you are, you should probably find an article written by someone with more experience refinishing furniture), you don't have to scrape the paint off all the way.  You just need to rough it up enough that the new coat of paint will adhere.  Choose a paint color a few shades darker than the furniture item's original color and no one will be able to see the old paint underneath.

The table in the state in which we bought it.

Me sanding down the table