Pulling it all together, Part 2....

The staining process is done.
We had no idea it would be quite so time consuming, but the results are absolutely spectacular.

It looks like we went out and spent big bucks on new cabinets, but we just bought stain, brushes, and steel wool to sand in-between coats. We bought a 2-in-1 stain that was both stain and sealer in one, and it was so worth it.

Before

This is a close-up of a kitchen cabinet door. They are the exact same shade and design as what was in the bathroom.

It makes me want to cry, they are so dang ugly.

I even hate the friggin' handles.

After sanding.

I personally hated the shade of the finish that was on the cabinets. I love the darker mahogany shades. Luckily, the hubby doesn't care either way.

All the grooves and handle holes are filled in with a stainable wood filler and then sanded again to leave a nice, smooth surface.

This was where we were getting excited - to see that ugly country pattern go away.

And voila!

Nice, pretty, non-country patterned cabinet doors. You can still see a faint suggestion of the filled lines, but once they are mounted on the cabinet front, it will not be visible at all.

Oh, remember the ledge that needed to be stained as well? It was the same ugly shade as the cabinets, and it had four holes that had to be filled as well because of the pointless, ugly wood poles that were there previously.

Before.

After. Nice, huh?

And I love how the color of both the doors and the ledge tie in perfectly with the medicine cabinets and the etagere.

And here is the finished product, hung back where they belong, new door handles in place, and same hinges used since we are on the dregs of our budget. (The last of it will be used to purchase the counter top and whatever miscellaneous items we will need to get to install it and the sinks).

There should only be one more post for the bathroom, and that will happen once the counter is chosen and it is installed along with the new sinks, and the towels are hung and the new floor rugs are in place.

More later...