Furniture Refinishing Help Needed!!!!

I was wondering if you guys have any tips on furniture refinishing. We are replacing the carpet in the dining room with a vinyl floor that looks like stone tile (thanks to the cats who think this room is a giant litterbox :mad: ). The furniture pieces in this room do not match each other. We have a beautiful lady's desk and matching mirror and a small bookcase all in a dark walnut finish but they are with a rectangular farmhouse table and 6 Windsor chairs in a yellow pine / white painted finish. The chairs are chipped from 14 years of use and need refinished so and I would like to strip the whole set and stain it to a dark finish similar to the other dark furniture and then purchase a buffet with a china hutch. Do you think I would be better off stripping and refinishing the 6 chairs or replacing them? If I opt for the refinishing, should they be a stained one solid color or refinished in a style like they are now - paint on the backs and legs (probably black or dark brown) and the dark stain on the seat. The table seems easy enough but those chairs frighten me and I'm so confused! Is it possible to go from such a light-colored wood to a really dark stain with success? I have stained new wood to a golden oak finish but I have not refinished furniture before. HELP PLEASE!!!!!!

The good news is you can go darker!

the bad news...stripping chairs is a pain. And you'll need to get them all the way stripped of the paint (or at least a one in a big way) to be sure that you can stain them the way you want.

Can you just do one as a test? That's what I'd do!

I have had some woods that have been difficult to stain. Some don't want to absorb the stain.
I find it pretty easy to use the gel stripper. The old desk I was talking about w/ the marker in the other post-- it was hard to stain. It's an old school desk w/ the lift top and I don't know if it's the age of the wood or the type. There is usually a lot of variance when you stain different woods w/ the same stain. Leave it on longer to help it get darker.
My mom gave me her old tabel. It was made in Italy and it's Italian inlay, round and a little higher than the average American table. I am having a tough time finding chairs to go w/ it on my budget. If I had something that went well w/ my table I would refinish it-- so that's my vote just from my experience. See if you can try one before trying the whole bunch. You may love the results.

Agree with stripping chairs. It's a royal pain. The best/easiest way would be a chemical stripper, unfortunately, that can discolor the wood.

Also, something to note, different woods take stains differently, so the same color stain CAN look different.

Sometimes it's easier just to buy new...

Good luck!