On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:45:56 -0500, Tony Miklos
wrote:

Instead of putting something on can you take some of the surface off?
Can you take the edge off with a jig saw then sand them down a bit. Or
turn them down on a really big lathe!

How about covering the ugly nature of the table with a table cloth?

Seems the table will still function for the intended purposes.

Something like this pic, but hating polka dots.

http://shop4tablecloths.co.uk/images/uploads/white%20on%20red%20polka.jpg