Cue the Choir...

                                                                                                                                                                

...cause these bad boys are FINALLY done! Hallelujah!

I've kept you all waiting long enough!  Mom's barstools were priority number 1 for Spring Break.  I've been working on them since Christmas break and had to postpone my work when school started.

You can read about the first half of the transformation here.

They started like this:

Then I painted and distressed ALOT to make them look like this:

And that is how they sat for almost two months! Thanks for understanding Mom!

I personally kind of liked them how they were, but they're not my barstools!  Mom wanted a more golden color, so I busted out the Minwax Dark Walnut stain:

I used t-shirt like material, poured a little bit of the stain on the cloth, then just started rubbing it on the chair.

It took longer when I first started because the rag would soak up alot of the stain.  Once I was almost finished with the first barstool the rag was pretty much saturated and it was much easier to apply.

DON'T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR SUPER COOL RESPIRATOR!

When I first started doing projects I would never wear one and I could smell the paint/stain fumes for hours.  I put my mask on and I don't smell a thing.  And if you breath (or in my case sing your heart out) just right, it makes a fun whistly noise! =)

Here is the comparison again of how the stain makes the wood pop and tones down the yellow:

And here they all are ready to dry:

Now what I've learned about Minwax stain is that it can stay tacky for days.  I'm not so great in the patience department, especially when I'm on a time crunch.  I applied my poly after the stain sat for 24 hours.  Although the stain was still tacky, the poly dried just fine on top.  Sometimes the stain just won't dry right, so don't be scared to put your poly on a tacky surface.

Now with that being said, the wipe-on poly that I used will try to remove some of the stain on your piece.  I just wipe very quickly, in long straight strokes.  I've found that if I do tiny areas and really try to rub on the poly it will remove a lot of my stain.  So I just saturate my cloth (the t-shirt stuff again) with the wipe-on poly and work quickly. 

Once I was done I let the stools sit for about three days.  Not because they needed that long to dry, but becauseI was doing other things. 

Here is the bowl that inspired Mom:

It had to match her counter-top too:

And here they all are in their new home!

It was really gloomy outside, and I was in a huge rush, so pardon the sub-par photo!

And here are some more just for your viewing pleasure!

Cheers!

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