Yard Sale End Table Revival

End Table Before

End Table After

I got lucky with this little table. I needed an end table for the living room and couldn't seem to find one that worked in size. The previous one dollar garage sale Ikea table wasn't tall enough, so when I got this table at a yard sale, I knew I had finally found the right one. I'm glad I didn't pay much for it because it turned out to be quite difficult to strip. For whatever reason, there seemed to be endless amounts of lacquer on this table, requiring a LOT of coats of liquid stripper and more labor than I thought possible for such a small item! Wow! My arms were killing me after I had completed the top only and I still had the legs to do. Geez.

In between, I had gotten two other jobs, which meant I'd have to put my person project on hold. I was fine with that because this table was so much work. Plus, I wasn't very happy with the way the sides looked. Instead of wood, they had used particle board, which doesn't strip well at all. I was so frustrated at that front panel (because it seemed impossible to remove all the finish), that I decided to replace it. The drawer was missing anyway, so why spend another minute stripping when I could just replace? So replace it I did and it looked so much better. Finally, the table was finished and I could proudly display it in my living room. It's the same size as the other end table, even though the two don't match, they still look great together with similar colors.