The table is in the kitchen

Our table is done and set up! Our chairs are getting closer to being done! So much sanding and painting later...
I hate sanding. Mostly because of how uncomfortable I am wearing the face mask. I hate the way sanding dust covers EVERYTHING. The chairs took two days of sanding. Some was done with the orbital sander, but most by the strength of my own hands, cause of all the curves. I sanded until I couldn't take anymore, and felt like begging Daniel to tell me that it was good enough. Looking back, now that the chairs are stained, I kind of think I should have done a little more sanding around the spindles because I didn't get all the old stain off, but am trying to embrace the rustic "farm table" look of imperfection.
Same embracing of rusticness goes for the table. I thought I sanded the 3rd coat of Verathane with 400 paper, but based on the scratches that I see now that I have applied the final coat, I must have used 320 or 220. I kind of is driving me crazy, especially since the 3rd coat was as perfectly smooth as glass and looked 100% fabulous. I also used a different, larger, more worn brush for the final coat, thinking it would save a little time, but it made brush strokes. You can't really tell unless the light is shining on the table and you tilt your head sideways. I'm done with the table top though. Someday way down the road when I am bored, I will take it out to the tool room, sand it, and apply another coat of Verathane.
So, once the sanding was done, I stained the seats of the chairs with dark walnut stain and applied the varnish.
The next step after the seats dried was taping them, so the paint wouldn't get on that part. I spent most of Friday morning taping the seats. Daniel was home from work with a cold, and he watched Mari practically all day, so I  could devote uninterrupted hours to finishing these chairs.

I tried Kilz oil based primer in an aerosol can. I wanted to spray the primer because of all the nooks and spindles, and figured paying a few dollars for a can was worth the time and trouble of cleaning oil based primer out of the spray gun. I sprayed the paint with the spray gun, cause that it not oil based.We chose black paint (Valspar Lincoln Cabin black). Spraying two coats on all the chairs and table legs only took 1.5 hours.

Other thoughts on paint: I noticed Lowes and Home Depot sell paint and primer in one unless otherwise specified. That is so annoying to me, since it isn't the same as using a stain blocking oil based primer, and if I'm using primer anyway, I don't want to pay 40% more (or however much more they charge) for paint that will apply a little thicker. That's really all the paint and primer does. Here is a brief summary of the combo paint: Roomations.com
However, I bought the paint & primer Valspar paint (1 qt. was $20), and I really like how it went on. The base of the table was hand painted, and one coat covered marvelously well despite the white primer underneath. I applied two coats, just for good measure. I also used an expensive Purdy brush, but this was the first time I've ever painted anything and not had any brush strokes show up.

Finished chair!

The color is a little funny in this picture. In real life it don't look so shiny and blue.

Painted and drying - this is a bit more true to real life color

Daniel took apart our old table to store in the attic. I felt a little teary to see it taken apart, since we've been using it ever since we were married. I'm looking forward to when we have room to use it again, because right now I am a little hesitant to let Mari do anything off the new table, since it's so new... I'm sure that feeling won't last long.