Lighter stain colors can date a piece of furniture… quickly. Don’t you think?

Beware! Full scale admission coming… My eyes used to just shoot past those pieces that had a lighter stain color. Can you believe that I wouldn’t even look twice at the bones or shape of a piece if it was the wrong color stain. Silly me! Thankfully, that was years ago. Whew! Glad I got that off my chest. Anyone else out there willing to admit they used to do that too?

This china cabinet was a victim of such snobbery. During a visit to a local consignment shop this piece caught my eye as soon as I walked in the door and I almost bought it. I didn’t because I couldn’t load or store it at the time. It was priced really well too. I literally had to drag myself out of the parking lot in order to leave it behind. Then a month or two later a client called me and told me she was looking for a sturdy storage and display piece for her salon. Immediately the china cabinet came to mind, but I was certain someone else scooped it up. So I didn’t mention it to her.  A quick phone call later and and I discovered that it was still there.  What!!!!  Lucky us!

Here is a before picture, well, I had already taken the glass doors off and such…

The lines, shape and functionality of the piece are great. The only thing holding this baby back is the color. Would you have left this china cabinet behind because of it’s lighter stain? No worries,  my client was looking for a piece with a darker stain too.  So instead of painting this china cabinet…I stained it.

Now it’s a nice deep espresso color.  Can you believe it’s the same china cabinet?  I almost can’t believe it.  It looks like a brand spanking new piece of furniture!

Here is a side by side photo comparison and a few detail pictures.

xoxo

Meg