Don't feel bad. What you're trying to do does require a lot of finesse and without the experience it's a learning process for sure. If you can figure it out you'll definitely save some money. It's especially fun when you can go to a second hand store and find a great piece of furniture that's cheap and unwanted because the finish is in bad shape. Okay, so you're at the point of over sanding and cutting into the underlying stain. I'm assuming the color is different and it's not just the white haze caused by sanding on varnish? It's probably still possible to blend the lighter spots back in but I'm not sure you'd want to purchase the supplies to try the techniques out. I sometimes use touch up markers from a commercial finish supplier or raw pigments and dyes mixed with thinned shellac. You'd have to invest $50+ in supplies to attempt a technique that is difficult even for a pro and may fail and the supplies will likely go to waste afterwards. Now if I were working on that table, I'm guessing I'd be swinging into full strip and refinish mode. The reason is that you say your husband's poly is cloudy in spots. If that was there before you started sanding then it could be water damage. Otherwise, it's almost certainly an indication that the finish has separated from the surface below. Trying to finish over the top of that would be a waste of time. No, you don't have to sand all the finish off. It's also really difficult to sand off an old finish and end up with nice, even coloring afterwards. Using chemical strippers is a lot easier but also a little intimidating if you've not done it before. For starters, you need to do it outside because you don't have the equipment to ventilate the fumes. Secondly, you'll need to invest in $30 of gloves, scrapers, brushes and other supplies if you don't have them already. This will also remove most of the stain and require matching the new finish to the chairs. Your best bet is to first see if there's a reputable shop in your area that is setup with a flow-over strip system, outsource the stripping but do the refinish yourself. Chances are, it'll cost you almost as much to get supplies to get started with the chemicals as it will to pay a professional to do that part. If you do that job yourself, you'll need plastic drop cloth, heavy nitrile or neoprene gloves (probably multiple pairs unless you find the good ones), some scrub brushes, plastic putty knives and half a dozen pieces of Scotch Brite. That's in addition to the stripper and the solvent required to wash away the residue. I use methylene chloride stripper but it's potent stuff. Breathing it is bad and it will burn skin within seconds of contact. Plenty of ventilation is a must when using that and since some companies add flammable solvent to the mix, explosion-proof ventilation is a must. That means work outdoors or own professional finishing equipment. The citrus-based and soy based strippers work fine but are slower and in my experience, more expensive. 3M Safest Stripper is very slow but effective when used properly and can be used indoors. Downsides are water content will make the wood moist and it was more expensive than the others the last time I checked. If after reading that, you prefer the hard, dusty work of sanding, then my approach would be to get good coated (minimizes clogging) sandpaper from an automotive finish supplier and start with 80 grit on flat surfaces. Don't bear down on the paper, just use even, smooth strokes and let the paper do the cutting. Stop using the 80 as soon as the wood starts showing through and move to 100 to get most of the remainder off. 120 is good for cleaning off the last residue and you can jump to 220 to prepare for stain. Always sand with the grain of the wood. For profiles and other details, I'd not start below 150 grit. Be careful sanding on that top though. It may be a thin veneer so avoid removing any wood. and that's another reason I use chemicals instead of sandpaper.

I don't think I would use a stripe rug and stripe material for the chair seats... are your chairs the kind that could be slipcovered in white linen/cottom or are you keeping the wood frames visible? Does the line of sight compel you to look through the dining room into say...the kitchen...or is it more off to the side so that is not not that much of a visual distraction?

Thanks y'all. I'll feel some naugahyde and check out the outdoor fabrics. I do like that one, Teacats--definitely the sort of thing I thought I might want. As far as saving the padding, no, it's really not worth it. Looks like it's just a square of that yellow half inch cheap stuff, not even covering the entire seat. I think it's the same puffiness as when it was installed. Thin. And the set has given my garage that eau de thrift shoppe so I'm very happy to chuck the cushion. The needlepoints aren't as detailed as they look in the photo (explain that, somebody!) but they are in pretty good shape--I don't think this set was used much. Probably because of the lack of cushioning!

The chairs are a good price (If I can ever get the seller to reply). I'm looking at a total of about $200 for all 8 chairs. Valinsv, I've thought about the upholstered head chairs and 6 sidechairs. The problem is that if people offer 6 chairs, almost always, 2, or at least 1, of them are captains chairs. I wouldn't want 2 head chairs and 5 side chairs and a captains chair. We actually do eat at this table every day. I figure for the price, even if the chairs break, it wouldn't be a big deal. Yes, I would definitely want to see if the seats come off. Right now, though, the idea of leather seats is appealing bc with 4 messy boys, there isn't a meal where each of them doesn't drop something on their seats. Javachik, I'll let you know in a couple of years! Although I don't love the chairs and they are damaged, I'm going to keep them around for possible use in our basement when we finish it in the next 5-10 years!