Staining and the finishing touches

Is that a pun? I think it's a pun.

Getting some time to work this week, I stopped taking photos and just got going. Finished sanding everything, got the legs and door on, and stained. After thinking, I probably should have stained the door and then put it on, but live and learn.

I left the door two-tone to create some visual interest. I'm not sure how I like it but at this point it's done and I'm moving on. Hopefully it takes attention away from some imperfections in how it fits at least.

What I did really like was the legs. The wife isn't a huge fan of hairpin legs but I am, and thought if I went small enough they wouldn't get overruled. They're only 4", which were hard to find cheap enough to fit my budget, but I think they make it look more finished. And the whole thing is so much lighter than anything else I've made, I guess that's what happens when you figure out what to actually do.

Decent looking miter at least. I seem to be learning.

This is a dark walnut stain, which duh, but I ended up thinking it's a little dark for my liking. But it's going behind a black couch so it should match pretty well. I think there's about 5 coats of poly on at this point. Can't do too much to try and protect something from abusive wiener kids.

Put two hardboards on the back and viola, one behind the couch console table with wine glass storage. Two years ago when I built the first one I was so excited I brought it in and set it up by myself as a surprise. My enthusiasm is a little tempered at this point, it waited in the garage until I could get help. But it's getting high marks from everyone in the house so far.

It certainly got junked-up quickly enough. There's just enough room for all the movies we have and a rack of shoes both on the shelf and below it; you'd think I planned it that way (I did not). But I guess a behind-the-couch table has become pretty critical to our storage and space usage.

Whew! You'd almost think I planned that (I did NOT). 

My favorite part is the bar cabinet for sure; not only do the t-racks work perfectly, there was room to get my whiskey into a more sensible area. Now I just have to put a magnet clasp on it and hope the kids will listen to me and leave it alone.

The old one's going downstairs for now under the tv until we decide if it's too big for the space or not. But man is it ugly to look at versus this one! For now, I'm basking in the glow of really liking how this turned out. At least until I get my next project started, or better yet, until I clean up beforehand.