Sanding My Fingers To The Bone.

Last week I solved my first mystery surrounding a piece of stolen furniture. My furniture. Now that it's back safe and sound, I've gotten down to fixing up my new hutch.


Still undecided on whether or not to sell or keep.


First step was to get rid of the old shutters. The hardware isn't too bad - although I had to replace all the screws in the actual hutch for safety reasons - so I set them aside to be reused. Next I cleaned it up and started to sand down all the wood.


I'd like to say now that while it doesn't look like much of a progress from when I first started, but trust me I've gotten quite a bit done.

I had started chipping away at the paint and sanding down the table top, but quickly realized that the very old paint had seeped into the depths of the wood, requiring really strong sand paper. I did attempt using stripper, but it only left me with more work and a smell I couldn't get out of my nostrils.

After a quick trip to Home Depot, I picked up a 4 pack of 60 Coarse sanding sheets and a 4 pack of 120 sanding sheets. The first to really get the paint off and the second to smooth out any rough patches (making staining or painting inevitably easier).


Once I came home I sanded down the tabletop again, the sides, the middle shelf, and the back. I also got underneath and all around the crease. I'm hoping to finish the top portion tomorrow, stain the pieces, then try to get the new back pieces stained. This will allow me to paint the remaining areas I want to color on the top half and finish it all together.


Lastly I'll rebuild frames to the bottom doors, refinish the hardware, stain the drawer face and the doors, stain the new back, and then paint everything else. This will be the finally.


I've been looking up numerous types of cabinet finishes and finally have a good idea on what I want to accomplish. Don't worry, as soon as I do finish I'll share the masterpiece!