A thing of beauty

Well, after a couple hours of elbow grease yesterday, I have a beautiful new finish on my dining room buffet.

And sore arms to boot. Since it was only the top that needed sanding and I didn't want to (and couldn't, alone) move it out to the porch, I sanded it by hand. I have belt and random orbital sanders, but I find that they kick up way more dust than sanding by hand does. The sanding is faster, but the cleanup takes so.much.longer. When I sand by hand I just keep the vacuum nearby and suck up the little piles of dust as I go.

So I spent a little more than an hour sanding it down, and about three quarters of an hour applying two coats of lemon oil to go from this

to this.

The difference is almost impossible to believe - I should have tackled this project several years ago!

Unfortunately, now my china cabinet looks extra bad by comparison.....