The old workbench

Lovely table, right?! This is a hand-me-down from my grandfather to my dad and then to us. My grandfather (Pa-Pa) bought it on Redstone Arsenal --- I know he got 2 of them - maybe 3. This is the only one that we still have. It's always been in the garage at my parents and has been used and abused throughout the years. Geoff even broke a slat of wood off the top when we were in high school (I've never let him live this down). When my parents moved to Georgia, we ended up with it and it's served us well in our garage.

With all the renovation talk, I decided that I wanted to fix it up and bring it in. I studied Factory 20 and how their tables looked. Our table had major rust on the bottom of the legs and one leg was bent so that you could easily stub your toe and need a tetanus shot. It had to be painted. Researching our options, we decided that powder-coating was the way to go.

The other big dilemma was the top. Should we polyurethane over the existing finish to seal everything in? Or, should we sand and stain it? We decided on sanding and staining. Geoff wanted to stain it cherry and I wanted mahogany. We ended up going with his pick and used General Finish stain (this has become our go-to stain -- it provides a fantastic finish).

Now, the big debate on stools. My thoughts were to go non-industrial and get something more polished. I think we could have gone either way. I struggled between the Pottery Barn Tibetan Stool and the Lyon Industrial Stool. I ended up with the PB stool but Overstock has stools very similar to the Lyon and they stack - these would be a great option for having enough to seat 8 and store when they aren't being used.

  

The finished product of our table adventures turned out just as I imagined. It looks fantastic and will be a great spot for laptops, school projects or eating a meal in front of the TV. For as excited as I've been about this project, it's been fun watching Geoff and our parents get equally excited. It's definitely a conversation piece. - Shannon