Staining the top

I woke up this morning having had the strangest dream. I was invited to go to this crafting-type conference and decided to take my buffet to show off. The only problem - it wasn't finished. I was scrambling around at the conference trying to find the right tools/materials to get it finished in time. So, I decided to spend the day working on that buffet when I woke up. I'm not finished, but I'm getting closer and I'm LOVING it!

Here's the before. The summer of 2009, I discovered Craigslist and scored a nice couch for $50. I was hooked. Soon after, I found this ugly piece and for $60 it was mine. My husband thought I was crazy for getting it and told me so several times. It doesn't look as bad in the picture as it was in real life. Lets just say the paint job was horrible and leave it at that.

Last year, I finally started stripping it down and that's as far as it got. I changed my mind (totally normal and expected according to my husband) about where I wanted to put/use it and so it just sat in the garage collecting dust.

Last weekend, my husband decided he'd help me out and finish stripping the top down so we could re-stain the top. This morning, after getting #1 to school, I busted out the power sander and sanded off the rest. After hand sanding the scalloped edge, it looked pretty good and I started getting excited.

At this point, I'd pretty much used up my energy, so I didn't get back to it until this afternoon. I put on my lovely mask that makes it possible for me to keep doing these fun things while pregnant and added a dark walnut stain to the top.


Here it is soaking it up:
And this is after I got the stain all rubbed in. Doesn't it look great?!?! It has to dry for 4 hours, then I get to start putting the poly on. After that, I'll be painting the rest. It's going in my bedroom and I can't wait to see what it looks like!