Thanks, that might work too. I don't have a picture of our family room since we dis-assembled it to prime our walls but here is a link to the furniture we have. Our coffee and end tables are very similar to the ones in the photo. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to family room furniture set

deedee, You said the table is Maple , Without seeing it I'm going to assume that it's made up many 5-6 inch wide boards all joined together. Each board will have similar but diffrent characteristics. If there is no sheen left to the table and it's uniformly dull, you have removed all of the finish. How much to sand is kind of difficult to explain. Try this; Get a few sheets of 120 grit paper, they come in sheets that are 9"x11". Cut them up into 4's,meaning fold the sheet in half and cut it, then fold the remaining half in half again and cut them. You should now have 4 small stacks of equal size sheets. Do the same with 220 grit papper. Now fold the 120 grit into thirds and with a bit of elbow grease sand in the direction of the grain, sand the entire table, then do the same with 220 grit. Maybe this will take 10-15 minutes total. Lets assume you did it correctly. Get some mineral spirits (the same as paint thinner) and wipe the table down with it. Use a rag and wet down the whole table, this will show you what the table will look like if it were finished " natural" with no stain applied. This will also show you if you've evenly sanded the table. The mineral spirts will take a few minutes to evaporate after you wipe down the table, so if you need to do any more sanding you're going to have to give it about 30 minutes to be dry enough to sand again. If you have to sand again, 120 then 220 follow up with mineral spirits to check yourself. I hope that isn't to confusing.

You really think the table top is pine veneer?? I don't think I've ever seen anything but solid pine. And if it were solid pine, I wouldn't hesitate to pull out my power sander and sand off the bad coat and however much of the scratches and dents you want. Stripper performance is greatly affected by temperature and humidity. When it is warm and/or dry, the solvent evaporates too quickly to get the finish removed, so it re-hardens. If it's cool and damp, you can probably remove a poorly applied clear finish with anything. If it's warm and/or dry, as it probably is almost anywhere right now, I've had the best luck with a brand called Dad's. Or cover the stripper with a sheet of plastic. Also, tackle the stripping as early in the morning as possible. It sounds like you want to match the color of the top to the legs. Waterlox is a nice product, but it is quite dark amber. Minwax Wipe-On Poly is quite a bit lighter, performs just as well, and is easy to apply. It's also much cheaper. Minwax Fast-Drying Poly is a little lighter still, and can be made into an easy-to-apply wiping varnish by adding thinner.

Sanding frees the lead into the dust---NOT GOOD. Stripping keeps the paint damp and cohesive---GOOD. (Unless the resulting goop dries out.) I can say fairly positively that wood is not poplar(poplar is listed as a hardwood---but is relatively soft and does not wear well under use.) I should have been more precise. The back woods do indeed look like pine, but the drawer fronts are mahoghany, IMHO. Mahoghany cut over 50 years ago(Old growth) had a much more dense grain than modern stuff(New growth).