I forgot to mention that the dining table has this really crappy polyurethane on top of its original finish, so it would be great to work with someone who could removed the peeling shiny stuff with...

I have several modern/deco pieces, some painted (I bought them that way) that I would like to have stripped and restored. I don't know what's underneath, but I assume its veneer since that's typica...

That is terrible, glad you are unhurt---the $$ part sucks but its just $$, not lives. Re: paypal scams, etc, an easy way to tell if they are bogus is to look at the url/website addres...