This isn't really a First-World Problem, although worrying about the patina of an old table isn't high on most people's lists of important topics...

But that is my grandparents' first dining room table, given to them for their wedding. It was passed along until it ended up in my house, mostly because my sister was moving and didn't want it in her new place! And since Chez Dildo is the repository for all unwanted things, it arrived here a few years ago.

Sure, it's clunky and heavy and stained dark, which was the style of the time but incongruous now. But it is also 100 years old, has some family history, and has a style all its own. Those wear marks are a result of thousands of meals and chats and arguments and discussions over the course of many years. My grandparents and parents and uncles and aunts and cousins and I sat at that table! And I remember eating my grandmother's blintzes and chopped chicken liver and plotting to get some raisinets afterward.

I could refinish it down to bare wood, maybe remove the leaves, and have a perfectly serviceable and sturdy table. Or...I could just clean it up a bit and keep those memories embedded in the table!