Before, During and After

For the last few weeks, I've been working on redoing the dining room furniture.It's a really nice piece of furniture that I bought sight unseen from the former owner. But, with the brick red walls, the slightly reddish furniture just doesn't do the job. It's like it disappears into the background. People keep telling me I needed to have it antiqued, but I was reluctant. Finally I bit the bullet and decided to have it done. So a friend of Marilene's, who is an artist, agreed to come and do it here at the house. So we took the two pieces apart and she began to sand and sand and sand.
After sanding, she began painting white. Well the painting is quite a job, as the wood just drank it up, so four coats were not much! It was days of work for her.
Next step, sand, sand and sand! Sawdust everywhere. But look at the results. Now you can really see the china cabinet and the wall as well.
Today she finished and I cleaned and cleaned and waxed and now all the stuff is back in it (to my immense relief, as I had dishes scattered all over my kitchen).
As you can see, we took the glass top off the table and she began sanding it. But we will not do antiquing on it. Just sand it down to the wood and then wax it, to give it some shine. The chairs, however, will have to wait, as this is an expensive operation! As well as messy and time consuming. I would like to be able to use my table again and do some entertaining. She suggested that we sand and wax the chairs (a natural finish) like the table, and then recover them. She even said she could paint the cloth (well, paint isn't the right word, but she designs and decorates material professionally) so we could do something interesting with them. We are thinking of stripes in shades of orange and yellow with an ochre or cream background. I think that would jazz up the room. Then, of course, my rug will no longer match. ARGH! IT's a never ending process. And of course, I really need to frame some pictures for the wall... As I said, this is a long process. I guess you never really get your house the way you want it, unless you are rich (let me clear up any doubts you might have. I am not!).
Thought you'd enjoy my decorating journey.
So you who are decorating divas, have any suggestions?