Refinishing furniture... not as easy as it looks!

So I have some nice furniture pieces that I obtained many years ago - very nice quality.  But after kids, dogs, country life... it all took a toll on the lovely finish.  So to go along with my French Country feel, I decided to paint and then wipe stain on it for an antique-y vibe.

Other bloggers make it look EASY.  It's NOT.  It takes time, and lots of it.  I spent at least 8 hours on this one piece.  That doesn't include the trips to Hobby Lobby for the fixture, or Home Depot for the drill bit.  And it was hard work!  But I think it paid off.

I followed this blog entry, over at Sweet Pickins - How I Glaze Furniture. The one thing I did differently is not put the stain in the glaze, I just wiped the stain on the cabinet.  I have a matching coffee table to work on as well, and I'll definitely add the glaze.  You have to work really fast with just stain.

Let's have some pictures!

This is the cabinet/side table/end table/whateveryouwannacallit before - sorry for the bad photos, they're all from my phone... and choosing a piece with beaded board in the front and back was probably not the best choice for a first-time project, but I'm happy with it!

Let's do a light sanding, although the paint I used, Behr Premium Plus, really didn't require it.

After sanding, wipe it down with a damp rage - I used a chunk of an old t-shirt.

This is the paint color - sort of a light vanilla, called "Innocent."

Let's get it started!

I used two coats.  The first coat was not very smooth, kind of blotchy, but that's ok.  Second coat pretty much covered everything.

Now the staining part - no photos, because my hands were in rubber gloves, and I had to work very quickly in the short time between wiping it on and rubbing it off.  Hint:  Be careful where you sand for distressing.  If you sand over the paint, like on a flat part, your stain will catch in there.  Be sure you have straight lines!  I used Minwax Jacobean - the same stuff I used on the basket from a few weeks ago.

Here is the difference between painted, and stained.

Time to add the new fixture - the original was just a plain wooden knob.  I think this one adds more character, and it was half off!  Also notice how I made sure the stain was kind of "puddled" at the bottom, because that's where dirt and stuff would be if this were an older piece.

Finally, about 2 pm Sunday afternoon, after starting around 11 Saturday morning, I'm done!  I love the hardware, and think it will make a very pretty place for... hmm... not sure.  Maybe the tv will go on top of it.

What do you think?