Would You Pay $25?

What a title...!  I will show you a picture of what I am referring to, as it looked about two weeks ago.  I found this piece of furniture at Re-Uzit Furniture Store in Ephrata.  It sat in our living room for probably half a year until I had time to turn it into the piece I knew was under all that mess.  Here it is in all it's former 'glory'.

I really don't even know what to call it, but the dimensions of this piece were perfect and I could envision it being a nice place for our stereo, but only with some major changes.

 

As seen in this picture, it looks like some major scratches on the top.  Actually, these were only through the top very thin layer of dull brown paint of some sort.  I could see that there was still nice wood grain underneath that was covered by a ligher stain.

 

My first cosmetic change was to remove the two drawers in the center and their support to make room for a basket to sit in their place.  It looks much better already!

 

Fast forward about five months or so and I finally have time and beautiful weather outside to tackle the next steps of the project.  In that five months, I had done my research.  I found a low-odor paint/varnish stripper that worked so well.  First, I took the piece outside (with help) and then partly disassembled it.

 

The doors came off and their handles were also removed in hopes of finding something I liked a little better.  Next came my other major change I had been planning and picturing....

 

 

Chopping off the legs to about half their height!  So just a small bunny trail here - at the beginning of this project, Gerald made sure that I knew that this was 'my project'.  I assured him I understood and kind of looked forward to the challenge, having a finished idea in my head, knowing it would look great.  Back on track - this is one step that he did help me with.  I got the first one marked and sawed off by myself, but I must have looked like I was struggling because he decided to help me with the other three legs.  Anyways, after that, it became my project again. 

 

 

Here are the doors with a second coat of stripper on them.  The first application of stripper made the brown, dull paint bubble right away.  I had done a second coat to make sure that the first layer of stain and varnish also came with it.

 

 

 

This shows one of the sides after one coat of stripper and it is easy to see that it needed another one to get down to the bare wood.

 

 

Well, here are the doors after everything has been removed.  Quite a difference and it made me excited because I could see even better now how this was going to be a useful and great looking piece of furniture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, here it is - after several busy, back breaking days of sanding, staining twice, wiping off the excess, waiting out the drying time and then adding a polyeurathane shiny finish.  The new door pulls blend in better and  make it look updated. I neglected to take pictures during the staining process because I was in a little bit of a time crunch, and I would also forget to do so.

You can see upclose how dark I made the wood again, but it is a nice rich stain, not dull paint.

 

I also love the new height for the space and the use of placing the stereo on top now blends in well with the rest of the room.

 

 

The scratches on the top went away completely, and I was left with a great piece of wood on the top.

 

 

I ended up not putting anything on top of this for a week because of the finish still being tacky.  But yesterday, after a week of drying time, it was ready!

 

This is how this great piece is being used in our house and I am very glad that I spent the $25 and I know that Gerald is too!