Table Refinishing

So I realized that I haven't done a how-to or a crafty post in a little while.  So I am presenting you with this table refinishing.
   
    Here it is shortly after we got it.  You better believe that I had it decorated for Fall as soon as we got it set up!  (If you didn't know already, Fall is my favorite season.  It's filled with great holidays (especially to decorate for.))  This table was an excellent find on Craigslist.  $80 for an expandable table with 3 leafs and 6 chairs!!  How can you say no to that?  We loved the table, but felt like its brown might make the room too dark. Soooo we decided to paint it.  We decided to leave the chairs dark.  An orange table AND chairs might be a little much.

The first step was sanding everything.  Normally we woulddo the sanding outside in the garage, but when I get excited about a project, I don't want to take the time to take it apart again and carry it piece by piece outside.  So we just did it where it was.  Halfway through though I started smelling a very odd smell.  This table had belonged to someone that had had a lot of cats and animals.  Upon disturbing the sirface with the roughness of sand paper it stirred up the smell of it having been in a house full of animals.  We were slightly grossed out and decided to finish the sanding outside after all.
  Now this table wasn't a real wood stained surface.  It was a laminate or formica, which meant we couldn't really get all of that darker wood color off.  We just sanded it enough to where the surface was a little rough and textured. (That way the paint had something to adhere to.)

We picked a nice russet orange color that I felt embodied Fall and still went with the brown chairs, brown curtains and bamboo colored walls.  This process was definitely done out in the garage.  We made sure to keep the garage doors open, that way I didn't suffocate from all the paint fumes.  We bought a quart of regular paint (VALSPAR Brand) that you can get in the paint department at Lowe's, and it didn't even take us the whole quart!

It took a couple of coats to fully cover everything. 
    When painting the legs, we had strung up a rope line in the garage and bent wire hangers to where the screw part of the leg could rest in it like a sling and hang on the line.  It was easier to let them hand there and dry rather than trying to balance them on their ends.

Then, to seal everything in and protect it from food and being scratched, we put a layer of clear varnish over the surface.  We also did two coats of the varnish

Here it is decoratedfor Easter.  (I know it's a big leap from getting the table in August up to March, but I'm not very good at taking in between pictures.) (I can assure you though, that I have gotten better at chronicaling our projects!)