You see . . .

I wanted to match the lamp shade!

Twelve years ago we bought this t.v. cabinet for cheap because it was "naked."

Twelve years ago I said, "Hey what a great price we can get since it's unfinished, we can just stain it!"

HA!

Twelve years later it got stained!

Eight years or so into that twelve years we were gifted a standing lamp with a shade that I loved (thanks, Bridget!). I still love this shade, although you can see now, the standing lamp part has since bit the dust. Nine years or so into the twelve years, I bought an oh-so-colorful stain that would match the lamp shade perfectly.

Doesn't it absolutely match PERFECTLY??!!

Problem...

IT DOESN'T MATCH THE ROOM AT ALL...NOT.AT.ALL.

SO,

My artist mother suggested covering it with a watered down black stain. No one at the store I went to was into the watering down idea so I just got an ebony stain and lightly stained over my purple/mahogany job. Here's what we're left with:

I actually think it's quite lovely now.

And, it's a lot of fun to play in...until the bottom gets filled again.

PROBLEM...

It still DOESN'T match anything in my room AT ALL!!!

So,

My three dollar bottles of stains are turning into ripping out our gas fireplace (anyone want it for free in exchange for repairing the dry wall afterwards?), painting all the trim, the walls and hopefully, getting a spiral staircase up to that unused space above the garage!

HA!!!

One awesome bonus (from my end) about the staining endeavor...I took the cabinet out in July during "no-tech" month, but then it was 90 degrees forever and there was no way I was going to be staining then. In August we were busy traveling and hosting guests, no staining then (cabinet in hall, t.v. on floor in bedroom, wii under bathroom cabinet). September, school started and I needed a good three weeks to decompress from summer. (-: Finally, mid-September there were some rumblings from the crew about getting the t.v. (and more importantly the wii) back in the house. So the pressure was on, and I started the process. Start to finish, three weekends. One thing I learned, don't stain with a rag, that takes for.ev.er. When I used a brush it was a whole new world, I was ready to stain the house! Gimmie another twelve years...