another new addition

The second new addition to our house are two new kids chairs.

If you're familiar w/our dining room table and chairs, then the photo to the left will make some sense to you...w/the dirty gel stained cloths, sandpaper, gloves, paintbrush and stain...

Right before we moved, we bought an unfinished table, 6 chairs and an armoire from an unpainted furniture store. Everything is alder wood except for the chairs which are rubber wood, a very hard wood similar to oak. Alder is a soft wood.

We finished everything ourselves - first the armoire before we moved, then the table and chairs when we were settled in the Birg. We bought gel stain from the store, which you can see in the photo - Brown Mahogany (but the armoire is in Java).

Step by step? Twist my arm why don't you! (I am quite proud of our wood furniture since I put most of the work into it. )

1. sand wood w/180 grit sandpaper to open the pores
2. rub off wood particles w/clean cloth
3. rub on stain w/clean cloth
4. rub off stain w/cloth
5. dry
6. lightly sand w/320 grit sandpaper and wipe clean
7. apply polyurethane
6. dry
8. lightly sand w/320 grit and repeat polyurethane coats per preference


I put four coats of polyurethane on the everything but the table. The table I applied six coats. But since we had the new chairs to be finished we brought the table out to the garage to put more poly on. Four coats for the chairs and four more for the table. It just might have erased the special word that Jerry accidentally inlaid to the soft wood... I can't seem to find it anymore!

Here you can see how small Evie is compared to the chairs...or how large she is. I dunno which.

Kids trying them out. When Noah first saw his new chair he was SO excited.

Completed stained chairs, but not glossy yet.

I guess I can't hold the camera still and stand on top of a chair, but you get the idea. Pretty wood, eh?

Noah and Evie sit in their new chairs for the first official time! They work great b/c the arm-rests fit right under the table so the child can be scooted as close to the table as possible to eliminate Noah feet on the chairs and in the air and other such inappropriate behavior.

I think I did pretty good! Gorgeous aren't they?!