Right now I am focused on getting the den done. I want it to feel like the Betty White of dens….I want it to draw you in with a warm and cozy spirit…I want it to feel like it has been around a hundred years but not stuffy…I want it to make me smile.

Ya’ll remember my conundrum?

Yupperdoodle. Five different wood finishes. So I got to work to remedy the color problem. The table in between the chairs (#4) and the dresser (#1) needed to be morphed into a more sophisticated version of themselves. I conjured the makeover powers in the movie Princess Diaries where Anne Hathaway goes from ‘nerd’ to ‘word’ – and hoped that I could be as effective as Julie Andrews…dude, is there anything that woman can’t do?!?

Just take a gander at the top of this dresser. The shame. But what can you expect for $25 at Goodwill, right?

Our original plan was to use Minwax gel stain in walnut. But nobody sold that color. I found that out after calling 17 home improvement stores…so I bought hickory instead. We sanded the pieces lightly to make sure that the stain would stick. And here are the results after two coats of gel stain…

Less dramatic than a Hugh Hefner breakup (or three). The problem with the gel stain was that you had to wipe the thick-as-butta stain off after you let it sit for a few minutes. The longer it sits – the more time the wood can suck the color. But the longer it sits – the harder it is to get it off. I could only convince my boyfriend to assist me with two coats… I needed a hero and fast.

Enter Cabot Polystain. I picked up a jar of Dark Oak in satin finish…it’s the butter on my pecans…it’s the sugar in my grits…it puts the purr in perfect! Sure, it takes a million thin coats – but there is NO WIPING OFF REQUIRED 🙂 By the time I finished the first coat, it was dry enough to apply the second.

Twenty-five or so coats later….

…our curvy little side table matches the flanking bookcases.

And the moment you have all been waiting for….dim the lights please…our new princess of the den is ready for court –

I couldn’t believe it either 🙂 Let’s look at it one more time:

I am officially on the Polystain train. I am slain with Polystain. I would love to obtain, sustain, explain the Polystain campaign with plain Jane, Elaine and Wayne in Maine while drinking champagne. Can you tell I have Polystain on the brain? (heehee)

I loved this product. And the results were fantabulous, no? So the question is…did you guys know about this? And if so…why didn’t you tell me?!?! One hundred points to those of you that wanna join the Polystain chain gang.