Hi Kitchen Friends..

Since I mostly hang out here, I wanted to share with you kitchen people my project.

I took the advice of some friends on the Home Decorating side and instead of painting my old 1988 whitewashed oak china cabinet, I gel stained it. Most of you know that my kitchen is very dark stained Cherry. And the china cabinet needed to change with the times too.

Using Celtic Moon's instructions (she gel-stained her kitchen):

1. I lightly sanded the monster.

2. Applied 3 coats of General Finishes Gel stain in Java, with a sponge brush,allowing it to dry at least 48 hours between coats.

I didn't sand in between coats, because:

a) I wanted a very dark finish

b) I'm kind of lazy about stuff like that.

c) I like the way it looked so why would I sand it?

d) I am ignorant about what sanding in between coats accomplishes except maybe to make the next coat stick, but I wasn't experiencing a problem, so on with the show.

3.Applied, with a sponge brush, 1 or 2 coats of polyurethane

4. Changed the hardware.

5. Wrapped some cut cardboard with fabric and inserted it inside the upper cabinet, covering the mirrored back that had some gel-stain smears all over it.

6. Decided I may as well do my 4 rounded back white-washed dining room chairs too, since the garage was a mess.

I found the General Finishes product really superior too Min Wax.

I am working up the strength (although this wasn't difficult)to do the same thing to my orange oak vanity in my master bath.

Thanks for looking...I enjoy hearing and seeing everything about your kitchens.

KA:)

1995 Before

2011 After

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