Hi Grad Girl 1. The problem with those pieces, and in general, with most pieces in the particular late-193Os style that's come to be known a 'waterfall', is not that they're veneer per se, but that they're often made of crummy veneer, applied--with glues that haven't held up well--to a crummy framework. Some styles are more prone to shoddy construction than other styles, and this particular style is one of the ones to watch out for. But veneer itself is not bad. High-quality veneered pieces can take refinishing without much problem, if you're careful. I know, because I've had a ton of pieces like that. Here's the thing about veneer: it started out as a way to stretch a given quanity of wood. Back in, say, 1820, a handsome piece of imported mahogany about the size of a fence post could be used as a vertical stile on an American Empire dresser, or as a table leg, or as the carved top crest of a sofa or to make a few rungs on a Grecian style chair. But by cutting that four-inch-thick piece of wood into thin slices only an eighth or a sixteenth of an inch thick, it could provide enough beautiful veneer to cover a more common, less expensive wood--like pine or poplar or oak, depending on where in the country the piece was made--and make an Empire secretary eight feet high, with perfectly matched drawer fronts with lustrous graining. Some of the greatest pieces of furniture ever made are veneered. But veneering is also a cheap way top cover up particle board with a slice of wood so thin you could read through it, which is the way a lot of furniture is made today. The only thing feeping that paper-this "wood" down is a thin layer of polyurethans. That is, plastic. On a piece like that, a gentle sanding can go right through the veneer & expose--well, whatever is under there. One popular manufacturer, having abandoned heavy, expensive-to-ship particle board-based-veneered shelving, is now offering shelves whose core is corrugated cardboard. Sure, it looks nice on the display floor, it's easy to carry out of the store & it's amazingly inexpensive, but nobody will be asking how to refinish that stuff in sixty years because it will have disintegrated long before that. Then again, a lot of people don't really care about that stuff, they just want something cheap. Anyway, somewhere in between the extremes of museum-worthy antique veneered pieces & trendy, here-today-gone-tomorrow pieces, there's plenty of older-but-decent-quality veneered furniture available for not much money, and some of it has your name written all over it. Your job is to find it. But how? The best way to get a fast education in old furniture is to go to a large antique furniture flea market--not to buy, but just to look. There, in one place, in one day, you'll see every style, high & low, every kind of construction, good & bad, solid wood & veneered, and it won't take you long to be able to tell what's what, so that, later, when you have only a photo on Craigslist to go by, you'll already have a pretty good idea of what it's like in real life. Then you'll be better able to gauge prices, not only based on what you can afford, but on what something's actually worth. Have fun on your search. Regards, Magnaverde.

There are several much tougher finishes than lacquer. However, lacquer is much easier to apply and dries much faster(20 minutes or so) so is a favorite with manufacturers. Faster apply/dry time is more money. Lacquer is a disolving finish. That means any application of an additional coat of lacquer partially disolves the top layer of the existing finish. So, I'd use a finish sander(1/4 or 1/2 sheet sander---NOT a random orbit sander-ROS) and 150 grit paper to sand out as many of the scratches as possible. However, if there is only one coat of lacquer, you will be into the finish quickly, even with a finish sander. Use a rag dampened with lacquer thinner now and then before and during sanding. That will disolve the top layer and make sanding faster, even with the 20 minute waits. Many of the scratches are through the lacquer and into the 'finish' they mention. Those 'finishes' are a recipe of stain/finish/additives that are propriatary to Pottery Barn. Without the actual recipe, matchig the color is virtually inpossible. So, most of what you will accomplish is just going to be modifting the present look.

OK, now we've got some questions answered. You're table is oak,not walnut. It is solid, it would have been very unlikely that it was walnut and solid ( also would have been odd that it was so new and walnut). My only concern is that you have to realize that trying to make oak look like walnut will be difficult. I'm not sure how handy you are,refinishing anything even a flat surface like this table is not as easy as it looks. As far as stain selection goes, once you've stripped and sanded the entire table , use a leaf as your color sample and try diffrent stains on the leaf ( just a small section , make little "swatches" ). After you get the color you want, use some mineral spirits to clean off those stain samples , sand the leaf again and proceed with your staining.

I am not an expert by any means but I have painted a lot of furniture in my house. I would prob lightly sand the chipping areas. I have limited use of chalk paint. I did chalk paint a few chairs and my dining room table. My tabletop was very shiny so I lightly sanded it and then I primed it. I used the chalk paint on top of the primer and then a coat of poly. It has held up fine for over 4 years now. When I paint I usually use just regular off the shelf paint from Lowes or Home Depot. I just painted my entire bedroom set. I did no sanding at all. Just a good primer, painted with Behr regular paint and again a coat of poly on top. Hope it turns out well!