Hmmm...

Did you notice that I was not here much yesterday? I decided that the day had come to do our end tables and coffee table in the living room. I stripped them down the day before. All I had to do to them yesterday was give them the final sanding with fine sandpaper before I began applying the stain. Late yesterday afternoon, I was ready for the finish.

I would like to say that I am extremely satisfied with the results but I cannot. For some dumb reason, though all three tables were from a matching set, one of the end tables did not accept the stain as the other two did. It was considerably lighter than the rest. I added more stain and still could not get it as dark as the other two. Finally, I lost my patience and about a gallon of perspiration so I simply gave up on it. It ended up not being too bad.

The end table that had soaked up the stain as it should have had just received its last coast of varnish when one of the dogs jumped on it. I don't have to tell you how that one turned out...

As for the coffee table, when I was sanding it down after the stripper, I evidentally went too low in three areas. Now they just have color to them but not much grain. Why not? Because it seems that the furnture store where we purchased them told us a bit of a whopper. The salesman assured us that the wood was solid--not veneered. Unfortunately, I know no ways of knowing the difference. So what do we do now with the coffee table? Fortunately, those three spots are fairly close to one another so I can cover them with one of my wonderful doilies. (In case I haven't mentioned this before, I am a doilie addict. There is no cure for me. LOL!!!) I love lace doilies, runners, tablecloths... As you know, I decorate in our home in a Victorian/Tuscan design. The Victorians loved to display their laces all over the house. My motto is the more the merrier. A word of advice: If you, too, enjoy crocheted laces such as these, buy them whenever and wherever you can. I purposely go into some thrift stores just to look for more. Though the art of crochet is still alive, not that many younger people are choosing to crochet that many doilies or tablecloths today. Therefore, people like me need to take advantage of places where we can pick up used laces. Most of mine come from people who have donated their grandmothers doilies when they pass on.

So anyway, time will tell just how long these tables remain with this finish. I may have to re-do them sooner than later.

VLE-B