Pain In The Butt Project (A.K.A Cedar Chest)

So, I bought this cedar chest off of craigslist, thinking it would be a great project to refinish and sell for more, but it ended up being the worst.project.ever. Why, you ask? Because it had a veneer top that was starting to peel and I thought it would be easy enough to take off. WRONG!! It seriously took WEEKS to finish. I even googled how to take off veneer and found that you should iron over a wet towel and peel it off. Don't get me wrong - that did help, but it still was a LOT of work.

This is my best before shot. To be honest, I was feeling way too lazy to move it so I could get a good shot, so this is what you are stuck with =)

I originally wanted to stain it, but there were so many gouges from my lovely handiwork on the top, that I had to paint. I did one coat of off white paint and then sanded the heck out of it.

The top turned out a little funky since it was plywood, but I figure I'll just put a runner on it to cover it up.

I thought it looked alright at this point, but I wanted it to look a tad bit more cohesive, so I did a coat of Dark Walnut stain over the paint.

Here you can see the difference the stain makes. It really adds to the old, worn look.

And here she is all finished. I just threw on the accessories for the photos, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do with it. I'll def be doing something to that pot 'cause the whole terra cotta look is not workin' for me.

I originally wanted to do something with the handles when I was planning on staining it, but after painting it I decided the handles look perfect.

So, I know I said I was planning on selling this thing to make some money off of it, but after all the work I did, I feel the need to keep it. I know that sounds strange, but there's gotta be someone out there who understands!