Check out Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV and the reveal here.
Last time we talked about the living room cabinets, they were looking like this:
Yeah, not so great. Thankfully we already painted the drywall and we also added the wood top, so things are looking better!
It looks like it’s almost done, right? We still have to add the baseboards (which you can’t really see in the photo, but they’re missing) and screw the wood top onto the cabinets. Then we have to decide what stain we should use for the top. We were thinking of doing something dark, but a couple of friends said that they like the natural tone of the wood – and it goes nicely with the chair we have next to it. So what do you guys think? Light, dark, or something different altogether?
Here are a few other pictures…
You’ll notice that we used several boards for the wood top. We cut them one by one, and filled the top slowly, sort of like a puzzle. For the boards that meet the wall we used a little trick. Since the walls are at an angle (i.e. they’re not 90º walls) we used a piece of trim we had around to mark our cut. We placed the board we wanted to cut flush against the back wall and as close as we could to the left or right wall, and then placed the trim flush with the left or right wall, on top of the board. Then we used a pencil to mark the line. I hope the photo makes more sense:
So like I said, we need your vote! Would you stain it in a clear poly, dark, or maybe something different, perhaps a color-tinted stain? I’ve put together a little poll, but feel free to let me know in the comments what you picked!
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
I have mixed feelings.
Let me explain. I really do love how the ikea dresser with the dark stained top turned out, but it looks really nice the light tone in the cabinet and it matches perfectly with the chair.
So I would say, go for the light tone and if you get bored, you’ll always have time to stain the top later.
Yeah, I think we’ll leave it as-is for now and decide later on!
I agree with Izaskun, I love the top matching that chair. At the same time, I’m always partial for a dark stain, but like she said, you can always go darker later on!
Yup, we usually go for dark stains. We hadn’t really considered the light one until someone suggested it.
My first instinct was dark but after you pointed out the chair tone- I went for light. It’s coming along great!
Yeah, ours too! But now we’re not so sure. Too many options!
I LOVE THIS CABINET!
To comment on the stain:
What the others have said is absolutely correctly. If you plan on keeping that chair, right now, everything matches perfectly HOWEVER, you do have dark accents in that room (chandelier, pillow), so something dark would not look out of place, either!
I like dark; it’s just my choice in colours. I would go dark!
Thanks Deanna! We love it too. I especially love it because I’m the one who dusts and now it’s way easier
The thing is I’ve actually been plotting to get rid of the chair… so if/when we get rid of it I’ll probably stain it dark.
hahaha… I hear ya! I hate, hate, hate dusting!
I think I like the lighter color. I’ve always liked a little tone-on-tone action though, so mixing things up with a warmer dark stain might look great.
Really, it already looks great, so no matter what you do it’s just going to get better.
Thanks Jess! I think we might leave it as-is for a while before deciding anything.
Tough one. Your floors are dark, but your accents are light. I voted for the light option, but now I’m not so sure.
Haha, yeah, it’s tough! Truthfully, both my boyfriend and I had agreed on dark (not even considered light) until a friend suggested it.
It’s coming together great! I love the wood you used for the top.
Thanks Brandi! We bought it in bulk a couple of years ago and still have a ton of it. We’ve already made loads of stuff with it though so we feel like we really got our money’s worth!
I agree with letting the top match the wood in the chair, at least for now. It’s really coming along though!
Yeah, I think it’s okay… for now, haha.
So you know our desk is painted crisp white and our bedroom wall color looks really similar to yours. We debated a natural look (which I do love in your pictures) but decided on the dark walnut. Now that I’ve seen it in our room with the walls and white desk I love it too! I do think it goes especially well in our room because we have some other dark pieces that go well with it. Good luck!
Thanks for your input Crystal!