cabinet makeover

My parents redid their kitchen almost three years ago when they first moved into their house, and they had two cabinets that looked just like this leftover from the renovation:

Notice the unfinished side and the lack of top or legs or anything that would make it look like a piece of furniture. Since it was the perfect perfect size for our entry way I decided to redo it to make it look like a piece of furniture which meant legs and a top and some painting / sanding.

I had to take the doors off to use the electric sander on the cabinet base and then I had to sand the inside of the cabinet doors by hand. Let's be honest: it was awful and took forever. And I didn't get all the paint out of the cracks like I wish I had but AJ and I both tried and it just wasn't coming off. So I think what I need to do is buy a paint pen with brown paint and rub it into the stained wood so the off white paint in the cracks doesn't show through. I thought about using a Sharpie pen and then told myself I was just being lazy and ridiculous. Here it is with the first coat of Antique Walnut on it (a Minwax stain and polyurethane). It was too red for me so AJ found some Jacobean stain in the basement (our favorite dark brown color) that I didn't know we had.

I went to Ace Hardware store and picked up some furniture legs for $2.99 a pop (way better selection than Home Depot!) and stained them Jacobean.

Here is my partner in crime playing at my feet while I stained (why do we bother buying toys when he's happy as a clam with boxes and tupperware?).

After painting the legs I needed to do something about the scrap of wood we found in the basement that was nearly the perfect size for the top of the piece. I measured out the amount I wanted it to hang over the edge of the cabinet and then had AJ make the cut. The photo is pre-staining.

And here is the finished cabinet! Okay, well, almost finished. I have decided to put a coat of polyurethane over the whole piece because it's a little too dull for me and I want to touch up that off white paint that I mentioned... hence no close up pictures at this time. :) I'll try to remember to post a photo when I do that... but picture it looking a smidge for shiny (aka: finished looking).

Oh, and do you notice something else slightly different about this photo from the first photo in this post? Check out the next post for what it is... :)