Great thread. I've made many mistakes over the years. When I needed drapes for 5 very tall and wide windows, I thought I would save money by making them myself. I ended up buying 30+ yards of a synthetic moire on sale at a chain fabric store, along with drapery lining, and after making up one panel, found that even with lining, the light coming through the fabric made the color brighter and kind of gaudy. The bolt is still in an upstairs closet, and I found 96" crushed voile panels online that I like very much for about $20 each. Lesson: keep it simple. A couple of years ago, I hired a local designer mainly to help me choose paint colors and advise on accessories/tweaking. In the master bedroom, I had some custom green silk drapes that I never liked that much, and she talked me into spending the money to have them interlined and a printed fabric border added, along with custom shams with the same fabric. I had already spent $2000 on the drapes, and now I spent another $1000, and I still didn't like them. I took them down, and they and the matching euro shams are in the closet in the guest room. I put up natural linen-look semi sheers from target, and I like them better. Lesson: keep it simple, and don't throw good money after bad. We weren't using our formal dining room much, and the same designer suggested moving the dining furniture into one end of our large living room, and making the old dining room into a den and the old den into a home office, which was really needed. Since I wanted to replace the old LR sofa anyway, I moved the den furniture into the living room and had a custom ($$$)sofa made for the new den. It was not a huge space, and we tried to keep the sofa scaled down. When it arrived, the fabric was gorgeous, the style just what I wanted, but the seat depth was so shallow that it was not very comfortable. I had also slipcovered the old den chairs to go with the new sofa ($$). I ended up moving the new sofa to the living room, where it was more appropriate for perching ladies than lounging TV viewers, and now none of the colors I had chosen (with help paid for by the hour) for the LR and new den would work. Plus, the newly slipcovered den chairs (on swivel rocker bases, I love them) don't work that well with the old sofa color. Fortunately, I hadn't painted yet. Lessons: Don't buy furniture without sitting on it. Choose paint colors after you are certain of your fabrics. Don't let your designer talk you into stuff you don't really need. Keep your major pieces fairly neutral. The worst was the master bath update. I had chosen tile for the walls and floor, and the tile vendor gave me a couple of names for the installation. The guy with the higher quote was very highly recommended but I went with the other guy because he said he could also do some other work I needed done. Even though I had a gut feeling I was making a mistake. He did a horrible job on the tile, broke my toilet, and disappeared. I had to buy more wall tile and pay another contractor to replace it, and I'm still stuck with a bad job on the floor. Between the cost of doing the job, redoing the job, and buying a new toilet, I could have had the better contractor do the job, and replaced the vanity and sink as well, and upgraded to a better tile. Lessons: A jack of all trades might be a master of none. Go with your gut. Ask contractors for their license numbers and CHECK IT online with your state to see if it's in effect. I've made more, but these are the recent highlights, LOL. I feel better having confessed them here.

In our original set-up, we had the table butted up to the island and the old light hung in the right place. Since then, we moved the table to the window, which we like much better..... buuuut it left that fixture hanging in prime head-knocking space. Also, I was thinking that if I really wanted another light protruding from the ceiling in addition to future fan, it would be better to have it over the sink instead of two hanging things in the center of the room. At this point, I'm thinking I will use that light for now and relegate it to the laundry when I can.

Bob's advise is good. May I add. If you owned the table since new and have access to wax containers that have been used,read the label to see if it contains silicon. If no,count yourself lucky and follow Bob's instructions. If any wax used on the table over ist's life contained silicone,you must A. Discard or clean any tool used during the refinish you will use here. B. Once you have done everything to the table like sanding that you plan before appling new coat(s) of finish,wipe the table off with a cleaner desighned to remove silicon in preperation for paint. And that probably covers about 10% of what you need to know in order to do a creditable job. The upside is the learning process. If and when you have piece you are thinking of redoing, before starting,tell us; What it is,what it's worth,why you are redoing,how well you want it to turn out,is it solid wood or veneer,is it stained,and any thing else you can think of. That will result in some questions directed to you. After some back and forth,a plan will be formulated and your hand will be held all the way to completion. Now that you won't think I'm brushing you aside,here is a truth about refinishing furniture. True artisians of woodworking turn down more pieces than they take on. A few reasons are,it will cost more than the piece is worth,the factory finish is one that is impossiable to repair, they offer the owner an easier solution than reinishing and the one we wish was the reason he/she refuses to refinish our piece,it is so valuable as is that refinishing will ruin it. My kids say I take the all fun out of it with my fussing. I hope I didn't for you.

I am mad about Minwax wipe-on poly. You shake it up, pour it onto a soft rag (I use the t-shirt rags you can buy for $2 a pound at Lowe's), and wipe it on. I have a pair of rubber gloves I use for staining and varnishing. Two or three hours later, you can recoat it. I just pop the rag into a zip-lock bag and reuse it. It does make a thin coat, and I usually like to use three or four, but it's so easy and fast, it's not demanding. I sand very lightly between coats with very fine sandpaper on a block, and wip it with a tack rag. The final finish is lovely and smooth. I like the satin finish. If I can do this, anyone can. I hate to varnish!