Thrifted TV Stand Makeover with Two-Tone Stain and Paint

My latest furniture flip was a look I've been wanting to try for a few months - a stained top and a painted white base.  But before I could get any stain or paint on this piece I had some reconfiguring to do.

I bought the TV console through a local Facebook group where people post things for sale.  The woman originally asked $60 for it - but it sat and sat and sat.  I took a stab and offered her $30.  She took the bait and I took home this heavy solid wood tv stand with the intention of converting it into an accent piece that could be used in an entryway, living room or even a bedroom.  She was in near perfect condition with no scratches, dents, or dings.

The first thing I did to start converting this piece was take off the back heavy cardboard piece that had cut outs for easy wire access.   I also removed the sliding drawer/shelf and converted it into a stable shelf.  The sliding shelf just screamed tv console.

Then I went at her with my sander...and I by that I mean I spent a good hour or two sanding off the finish and stain on the top.  I got it down to the bare wood so I could stain it a deeper, richer color.

Then I stained..and I stained...and I stained.   This thing was thirsty!  I must have put about five coats of stain on the top to get it the color I wanted.   I ran into a few problems while staining, but nothing a little advice from my bro-in-law and Steph couldn't fix.   The MiniWax Stain can suggests a new coat of stain every 3-4 hours.  However, every time I put a new coat of stain on after that amount of time, when I went to wipe off the excess the previous coat would come off too leave near-bare spots.  So my expert advisers suggested waiting 24 hours between coats.  Uh,  this is like murder for an impatient person..but it did work.  So after nearly a week of staining one coat a day, I was finally ready to start painting.

I mixed up a batch of DIY chalk paint for the base and doors.  This time I used a slightly different recipe and the consistency was spot on.

Here she is after just one coat.  You can see that even with the darker wood underneath, the white chalk paint covers really well.   It only required two coats and covered great - despite being a light color paint over a darker base.

Once the stained top and painted bottom were dry it was time for the top coats.  I went with polycrylic over the painted areas and polyurethane over the stain.  Why, you ask? Well, that's a whole other post that I will be sharing tomorrow.   Basically there are several reasons for this and it really does deserve its own post.

I cut out a new back for the top section from the bottom of a drawer I had left over from my recent dresser to console flip.  The new back was a solid piece without any cutouts for wiring.   I used brad nails to attach it.

I finished the piece up with some new hardware and a little distressing. 

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