Diamond in the Rough

This morning Joe and I went on a yard sale-ing excursion with some friends who are veterans. In the past we've occasionally stopped in at a yard sale if we happen to be passing by, but have never made an effort to seek them out. Our friends checked the paper and plotted our route. These people don't mess around!

At one place I saw this sweet little painted table. It had quite a few dings in it but the owner - who said it was an "antique, from the 60's" -only wanted $3 for it so I couldn't resist. A fresh coat of paint on it and it would look good as new.

But wait a sec.... I wonder what's under all that paint? Curiosity got the better of me and I had to see the wood. Beneath the 2 coats of stubborn white paint was a mustard yellow layer with black curlicues and flowers. It had probably been pretty at one time, but the color reminded me of the 70's and all my scraping didn't do it any favors, either. The wood, once I was able to see a patch, appears to be walnut or cherry, absolutely lovely. It would be a shame to cover it with another coat of paint. This baby needs to be stripped!

I'm glad I got a "before" photo because this is going to take a lot of work and I want to be able to remind myself how it looked once it's all finished. Being the tree-hugger I am, I won't use any chemical strippers to remove the paint and will do it all with elbow grease. I'm going to be scraping for quite some time!