When my grandmother died, my mom got her dining room suit that had once belonged to my great grandmother. Since my grandmother was born in 1913, I figured the furniture is at least that old if not older. Soon after my grandmother’s death, my mom gave the dining room suit to my sister. A few years later, her son got married, and my sister bought new furniture and gave my grandmother’s dining room suit to her son.

Then last month, my nephew and his wife moved to Louisiana. They kept the buffet but didn’t have room for the table. So, they gave it to me.

The table was well used, well loved, and needed refinishing. And since I had refinished furniture before, I jumped at the chance to restore my grandmother’s table and chairs. Below, are before and after pictures.
This is what the table looked like when I got it.

This is one of the chairs:

I removed the seats and found an older chair bottom underneath. (This is the chair covering I remember from my childhood.)

Then I sanded the chairs.

Stripped and sanded the table.

Washed the wood in mineral spirits-

Added brackets to the table legs for stability.

Stained the chairs

Stained the table.

Sanded it a second time

Added three coats of polyurethane

Reupholstered the chair cushions-

Went over the wood with fine steel wool, dusted and polished it-

And moved it into the house-

I think I did my grandmother proud. What do you think?