Door Progress Pt. 2

So some of you may remember about a million years ago when I started stripping the bathroom door. Well, guess what? I'm done-ish.

More on the "ish" later.

For now, I show you what I've done:

Here's the door before. Several coats of paint over a thick, thick varnish.

Here's the door where you guys last saw it

So after I had stripped everything off it looked like this:

Then it was time to get down to business. I hit it very gingerly with some fine sandpaper, wiped it off and got started on the staining process. Here are the supplies that I used:

1) A mask

2) Minwax Pre-Stain (this stuff helps get rid of that blochy-ness you see in the last picture)

3) Minwax Wood Finish (I used Red Mahogany)

4) Minwax Antique Oil Finish (I haven't gotten to this step quite yet but it's supposed to give your wood a finished look without it being too shiny and new. Hey, I don't want the other doors gettin' jealous.)

5) Rags. Lots and lots of cotton (lint free) rags.

6) A kitten (purely for cute purposes)

So, after my Pre-Stain I put on three coats of Wood Finish and here's where we are:

Excuse our messy attic but the door really does look very nice. It's been really humid here so the last coat of stain still isn't quite dry enough for me to feel comfortable putting on the Oil Finish but boy, when I do...it's gonna' be the prettiest door in all of the land.

Now, about that "ish" part.

My mom was looking at the finished product up there and she asked to flip the door over so we could compare the colors. I did, and the other side of the door with its nicks and streaks of paint and just general ugliness was just too much for me. So...I'm going to strip and re-finish it as well.

I know it's going to take longer but frankly, we're nowhere near needing a door on the bathroom and since the other side isn't painted it should go much quicker. Also, my mom brought up a good point. The side that faces the hallway will be the side that you see the most in the bathroom anyway since usually, the door will be open. So, thorough wins, lazy loses. At least I'll have more to post about, right! Right?