DIY Network

I have a kitchen and table set that is very old but in decent shape. It matches my cabinets as is but I'm still thinkin about red doing it. Is that hard? Would I just take old varnish off sand it then put on new varnish? Second prob I have is the seats have cushion (not a big fan) it had some awful green vinyl that I switched out w/ material. Don't know what I was thinkin haveing 4 kids under the age of 4 who miss there mouth 85% of the time. So needless to say that is ruined! I would love to just have them be plan wood. Any ideas or maybe seen a show that would show me an idea. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Sanding and restaining is a lot of work but definitely can be done. Just be sure to get ALL the old stain off or your new stain could look blotchy. Gel stains can help disguise any small variations and are easy to work with. You may also consider sanding and painting as an alternate choice.

As far as the chairs go, probably the easiest thing to do while your kids are little is to go find an attractive vinyl and recover with that. Most fabric stores have large bolts of 'pleather' that look really nice. If your budget allows you can start looking around at yard sales and thrift stores for wood seated chairs but remodeling your existing chairs might take some work with woodworking tools. Not sure of your skill level there but it is an option.

Do you have the free time and space to do this job. Just the sanding of all those round areas would take a few days and you need an area to work in because there's going to be sanding dust everywhere. Once that's done you need someplace to do the staining where the stains not going to end up on the floor and stain it also. Then you need an area where you can do the poly with ventalation and 0 dust where they can be sealed and allowed to sit over night then sealed again.
Please do not even think about using a product like Poly Shades amde by Min-Wax. If these are pine chairs you'll end up with a blotchy mess with some spots that just will not take a finish.

This was going to be a fall project. I have a two car car port. Would that be enough room and ventalation (I'm pretty sure that would be okay. Time wise I am a stay at home mom so I figured I could work on it while the kids were playing outside. As for the products you are talkin about never herd of them. But will take them for advice not to use. Do you have any other vaualbe information now that I answered all your other questions?
Thanks

In your case I would use water based stains and water based poly. It drys far faster. Do not try and seal the wood to early in the morning or late in the day. The moisture will cloud up the sealer. It's going to take many coats of poly to do this right and have it last. With water based I can do three coats in one day.
Use a natural hair brush.
Once you see just how much work is involved and the time it takes to do all the stripping I'll bet you'll start looking around at new furniture.