trash to treasure - indeed!

My rescued mid-century table has had it's makeover and I couldn't be happier with the result!  And I'm so proud to have completed my first furniture restoration project (although my arm is a little sore from all the sanding!).  

This poor table was rescued from a dumpster on the UA campus - an unwitting college student must had had it as a hand-me-down and didn't realize what a treasure it was.  Spray painted patchy red with brown legs, it looked pretty sad.

I don't have any special tools, so I simply purchased three varying grits of sandpaper and sanded the whole thing by hand.  There are a few scratches where the paint is fairly deep into the wood, so I'd love to do an even more thorough job some day when I have an electric sander.  When everything was smoothed out I rubbed in two coats of Formby's Tung Oil Finish to bring out the grain.  The spindles were also a little wobbly, so I gently tapped them out of the table with a hammer and re-attached them with Gorilla Glue in addition to nails.  The little table is functioning perfectly as a nightstand to hold books and cups of tea.

Now I'm hoping to stumble upon another piece in need of a little refurbishment : )