Sure, I'll be glad to paint that...

This will be the first of probably two or three posts about my current wood-working project. How I got started doing stuff like this I don't know. I have very little idea what I'm doing, mostly I'm making it up as I go and trying to avoid doing something stupid.

History
Last spring I talked myself into staining and sealing two doors we had hung in our house. The final outcome was pretty good, but it took about 3 times longer than expected.

The Project
-Re-finish 2 tables we currently use as our "entertainment center".

Project History
-When I was in college my dad built a table to fit in a spare closet in my dorm room that I could put things like my microwave, toaster, and coffee maker on. The table measures 36" long x 36" tall x 18" wide. It is made of 2"x4"s and 3/4" plywood. He used screws and some 5" bolts as fasteners. It could easily become a very solid work bench in the garage if the wife ever kicks it out of the house. After moving to Joplin I built a second table to match the first one. The one I built was half as tall (18"), but the same length and width. Dad's had two identical shelves (one at 36", one at 18"). My table (built to be a coffee table) has two levels, one at 18" and one at about 6". They do look like they go together and to have been built with very large, bulky materials, they are fairly well built.

-Both pieces were sealed with a clear varnish, but were not stained.

Reason for the Project
-The clear sealed, white pine doesn't go with all the black furniture in our living room.

The Objective
-Remove the original finish, prime, and paint them black.

- The idea here is that they will roughly look like our kitchen table and chairs, which have an antique black finish.

The Plan
-Take the tables apart
-Sand them down to remove the original finish and smooth rough places
-Prime all pieces
-Paint all pieces black
-Reassemble the tables
-Apply second coat of paint as needed
-Put tables back in living room

I started on this yesterday, my next post will update my progress so far.