Everything but the Dry Sink

Two years ago I became very interested in making my own bar; not the kind you sit at but rather one that would house my liquor and drink glasses. A decorative cupboard that isn't completely necessary but you feel as if you need it to complete a space- that sort of thing. When you don't want to spend $500 at a place like Seventh Avenue or even Walmart for that matter you have to get a little more creative, so I turned to Pinterest. There I found several different ideas on how to turn dressers and other sets of drawers or cabinets into a bar; I was sold!
My beginning intentions were to find a hutch or maybe a decorative shelf and refurnish it and add some decorative paper to the shelve to make it pop. It wasn't long into the search before I realized this piece of furniture wasn't so simple to find. I then scoured craigslist for days on end hoping for something to catch my eye when alas, I found my antiqued beaut. As soon as I saw it I knew not only that I found the piece I wanted but that I was looking for the wrong thing all along, I should've been searching for a dry sink. So I traveled to the antique mall, had them clear it off and loaded it up in my car. I brought it home and was absolutely ready to stain it! The only issues were I had never done that before and it was currently painted white.
So I set to Home Depot and purchased some Minwax Polyshades and a brush for application. I also bought sand paper to get off the paint. At Target I found a wrapping paper I liked and planned on lining the shelves with it. I stained this bad boy right in my dining room. My apartment smelled like stain for weeks... Mistakes were made in this process and I don't even know that I realized it let alone cared. First of all, I didn't remove the hinges meaning I also didn't remove the doors. Secondly, I was doing this project in my carpeted dining room on top of a towel.
Staining sucks. Big time. I don't think I cared then, I kept telling myself it will improve. When I finished I think I was just so happy I completed it that I didn't notice it kind of looked awful. The stain had dripped and streaked, it wasn't evenly stained in several places. I couldn't find any pulls I liked so I was using four regular knobs in the holes. The interior paper was applied with spay adhesive and was already coming off in spots. It just wasn't my best work but nonetheless it lasted two years until I was done with it.
Finding myself in need of yet again refinishing my cabinet and maybe making it the original color I wanted (espresso not oak) I turned to Pinterest. This time around I found several things on spray painting your furniture instead of staining. The only downfall with this is you can't see wood grain, but with the hack job I previously did I don't think wood grain would've mattered much. So I turned to spray paint- where has this luxury been?! It went on so great and it dried in hours, there are a few spots that aren't glossy but you can't tell unless you're looking for it. One of the issues I had with this was finding new hinges since I ruined to current ones by staining directly over them! After zero luck with finding silver H hinges at any store I decided to attempt taking off the stain, and it worked, but now they were bronze. So what else does one do but spray paint them?! I am completely proud of this project this time around. It looks nice and it actually matches.

Original white and finished shitty stain

Current

For some reason I wrote this post probably eight months ago but I never published it. Strange. I can vaguely remember wanting to add more (maybe some how to instructions) but I think it's fine as is for now. I still want to finish the interior of my cabinet but until then it's golden!