So, first, sorry for such a long break in the posts on here. Time got away from us and we stayed pretty busy, with the wedding and my returning to Arizona for the whole month of August. Anyway, I started a project way back in the beginning of the summer, but was never able to finish it, until now. The rain just wasn't having any of it. However, since we got back from the wedding, the weather has been beautiful with the occasional rainy days (September is definitely the perfect month to come visit us!). I jumped at the chance to finally finish my project, especially since Derek said I couldn't start any others until this was finished!

So here it is! In a previous post, Derek posted a picture of a cabinet we picked up at a yard sale. Our intentions were to use this cabinet as a shot glass holder above Derek’s mini bar. First though, it needed to be stained. I have never stained anything before, so a lot of research went into how to do that exactly. Once I felt confident enough, I bought the supplies from Home Depot and started my project. I ended up getting a two-in-one type of stain, so I wouldn't have to do the extra step of applying the polyurethane (the stuff that gives furniture its polished look). We decided to go with a darker color, as that seems to be the theme of the office.

I read online that it was very important to sand down the entire piece and then make sure to clean it out afterwards.The instructions online also suggested a specific type of sand paper, but we just grabbed what we felt like and it worked fine. Also, I found the easiest way to clean it after sanding  was to use the vacuum. Once it was sanded, I started with the back (just in case I messed up horribly, no one would notice!). Now, I had read about a few different application techniques and decided to use a soft cotton t-shirt cut up into little pieces. This did not work well at all! Here is a before, just after sanding picture and a picture of the first coat. The shirt ended up just absorbing most of the stain into itself and not really applying it to the cabinet.

This where the project came to a halt with the rain, the wedding, and the trip back to Arizona. Once we got back from the wedding, I was determined to get it done. This is where I changed techniques and instead decided to go with applying the stain with a paint brush. It said online to buy specific types of brushes for applying stain, but I ended up just using a regular paint brush and it worked fine. I also only ended up doing one coat to everything (except the back, it got two coats). Here are  some pictures I took half way through the staining process.

  

I let it dry for a complete 24 hours before turning it over to do the back. I believe the can said 8 hours, but because of the humidity here, it was just safer to wait the extra day. There is also a door to this cabinet, but I did not take pictures of staining that. I just taped off the edges to protect the glass and then used two smaller paintbrushes to apply the stain. Once it was dry, we put new door hinges on it and then hung it up. Here are pictures of it while drying and then of course one hanging up above the bar with the shot glasses in it!

  

That’s it for now! I’m not sure what project I’ll start next, but we do have some other things we can post about the small things we've done to the house and a few of our activities. We’ll post those later on!

Thanks for reading!

-Chelsey