media stand part 4: paint and stain

So there was a preview of this step in the table saw post, but things are starting to come together with the media stand and it's about time to start working on the finish.

With most of the individual pieces together, I thought I would try to stain/paint them individually before assembling them into a completed stand. I wanted to avoid any difficulties around the joints by having everything a uniform color before putting it together.

At least the pieces still fit on the bench and I'm not stooping all day.

Worked well enough with the middle shelf. Doing that and the inside shelves separately meant they looked pretty good put back together. I did see some sanding patterns from using the hand sander that I'll need to clean up before I stain the outside, but I had to wait on that while I finished the dowel joints keeping the shelf to the sides.

Boy I wish I knew what I was doing sometimes.

 

While I waited, I got a quick coat of the metallic paint I'll be using for the bottom on some brackets I had picked up just in case. That way they'll blend in better than they would as plain silver. The T's will be on the back anyway but hopefully this means I'll be able to walk by and never notice them.

Painting the bottom was a little rougher. It's a big enough part that I didn't want to spray paint at night with the garage door closed, but also big enough that one can isn't quite getting me the coverage I was looking for, so right now it's waiting until I get another can. It'll get done. Eventually.Thankfully, I'm happy with the finish thus far and at least putting stain on didn't make any mistakes more visible. Maybe this will come together after all.

Here's the re-finished Poang

Speaking of finishing what you start, the poang is back in the basement looking sharp. Of course I couldn't get this project done without one more mistake; adding a lacquer coat after the poly left some pretty rough patches, leading to more sanding and re-applications of poly. But that was minor considering what this chair looked like at the start of this idea.

Now I can start putting things back together.

Color testing with the cushion back on; not terrible.

The chair was a lot easier to work with once it was broken down a little more. I could put it on the bench to wipe the poly on at least, which saved my back some trouble. The ottoman got one less coat, since it doesn't get handled as much and at this point I was pretty much done and just wanted it back in the basement. And hey, cheers to me for not losing any hardware while I worked on these so everything could go back together.

Yeah, that's actually halfway decent.

Even with all the mistakes, I think this was a project worth doing. Looks aren't the highest attribute on my list of what furniture needs to accomplish, but the chair is much more visually appealing now that the ottoman matches. And it's still comfortable as hell when I want to sit somewhere the kids can't come jump on me.  

Maybe not as messed up as I feared.

A darker stain seemed to do the trick for our poang, getting both the chair and ottoman slightly closer in overall color. Plus, it doesn't show the scuff marks quite as much and went on a little more even, so it might be worth getting a few coats of poly on to see if this chair is salvageable.

That's a little more like it.

Big sigh of relief at this point.

Might still have to spray some lacquer eventually.

Thank goodness this looks a little better, b/c I wasn't too jazzed about the idea of turning everything glossy black. Now I just need to find some time on a decent day to spay the lacquer outside so we're not dealing with fumes all day. Hopefully a decent finish matches up well with the black cushions and we're back to actual chair status in the near future. As long as I can put everything back together.

more like "messing up" a poang

Surprise surprise, trying to stain our poang hasn't gone great so far.

These actually don't look terrible...

But they don't really match the chair either.

Hoo boy.

A bit blotchy, and lighter in tone than I was expecting since the stain isn't getting into the wood like I had hoped. Looks like I didn't sand quite as much as I should have.

This bummed me out more than I thought it would. I shouldn't be surprised that some of these projects aren't successful, but honestly it's happened so infrequently that when it does it's a real downer. I'm going to give it a few days to sit while I weigh my options.

Option one is try a second coat with a darker stain I already have on hand. See if that helps things look any better without sanding everything again. That means option two is if I'm not happy with a second stain coat, sand everything off and start over. I don't feel like that's in any way going to happen. The real option two is buy some black spray lacquer, and just coat the entire thing and make it nice and shiny. Honestly, that might happen anyway so I might as well give option one a shot and keep my fingers crossed.We'll have to see what happens over the weekend.

so many choices

The decision paralysis that’s snuck up on me on some of these projects has come up before. Even with a small project like the media stand I want to make damn sure I wrap things up by putting the right finish on.

This is getting ridiculous

Through trial and error, I’ve accumulated a decent spectrum of finishes to choose from. Like for the patio table, I had some left over walnut stain but wanted something a bit different for something going outside. Thinking the same thing, the wife talked me into trying a natural stain to go with the red mahogany I had picked up. They were both terrible. I admit I felt a small twinge of validation when the wife admitted they both looked awful on the scrap I test-stained, and she said I was free to pick something else on my own. Although to her credit, I ended up using the natural on the sandbox and it made it look like I’d used much nicer wood than I actually did. A point for using stain in general.

What to do, what to do...

Eventually I found one I liked, and now have a range of stains around to try to use on other projects. Natural went on the sandbox, the darker mahogany on the lounge chairs. Each of those was something new that worked, but that’s the thing about these projects…you can think all you want but you never really know until the rag hits the board. Today for the stand I went back to the reliability of the walnut stain I’ve used on most everything else, paired with painting the legs white to make lighten things up a bit. I think a good seal coat on this will wrap things up.

A good stain can make all the difference, which is why I worry about it so much!

This wasn’t a sponsored post, and it’s a little out of left field considering what I’ve been working on lately. But I’m hoping to get the baseboards and ledge shelf in soon and I’ll be picking a stain again, so I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Every time I head into the shop I see another project or idea I could write about. This one just felt like it could help put the finishing touches on the basement.

Purchase list:

Minwax walnut stain (console, already had it)
Minwax gunstock stain (patio table, bench)
Minwax red mahogany stain (lounge chairs, shelf, possibly)
Minwax natural stain (sandbox)
Minwax Helmsman clear gloss spar urethane (everything)
Glidden semi-gloss pure white (molding)