Mu(t)ch hutch progress!

The hutch moved in this weekend!  I'm so excited!  Here it is in the door: I had to clear a spot in the dining room for it. 

And here are some before/after pics of the lego-madness that is soon going to be contained in the much-loved-hutch. 

I still have a few things to wrap up:

• I haven't touched the drawers;
• I need buy new thin plywood for the backing and decide what color to go with: brown, or white? What do you think? I'm leaning towards white, but would appreciate input.

But for now, it's done and usable storage space.  Woo-hoo!  And if my sister is reading this, no, you can't have it back.  It's mine, and I'm going to name it just so it feels like it officially lives here.  We've been known in the past to exchange furnishings, so I know she has her eye on it.....just waiting for me to get tired of it....

Anyway, back to the details.  This was a HARD, long, drawn-out project, with many steps.  It happened over many months, because I would get tired and have to take a break.  I have to say that in the 10 years (and 5 more before that) that I refinished something, the products have gotten easier to use with better results.  More on that tomorrow.

So first, the steps:

• strip down the old faux finish
• sand
• sand
• sand
• sand
• apply 3 coats of stain (and sand, sand, sand)
• apply 3 coats of poly (and sand, sand, sand)
• paint the inside of the shelf area white
• move in
• re-attach doors, maintaining my dignity and trying to keep my vocabulary PG while doing so.

I think that's the big picture. 

 For today, I just want to bask in the beauty of it and enjoy it. Oh! I almost forgot the best part...the doors! (ok, putting the doors back on....that was NOT the best part, I was really scratching my head over that one). But here is the coolest thing:

one....

....two.....

Three....Voila!

the doors completely open up to form a table!  How unique is that? Have you ever seen anything similar to this?  I would love to know.  There is a bit of info of the hutch on the back of it, but I'd love to know more.
Tomorrow: details on the process, the sanding steps, the products and more. 

But for today: back to my full day job of being mom to a sick boy. See you tomorrow.