Apothecary Media Console

THE BASE: (1.) Get a pint of wood filler, apply generously (especially on cheap wood), and sand the crap out of it for that super smooth finish. (2.) I got an oil-based primer and applied lightly for one coat - this let me see more imperfections. I applied more wood filler and sanded more. I probably did 3 coats of primer and sanding - but I'm a little anal and didn't want to see any wood grain. (3.) For the paint I went to Sherwin-Williams and asked for an oil-based paint. We got talking about what it was for and he steered me to another product: ProClassic Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel. Said it was supposed to dry harder, smell better and clean up better than oil-based stuff (which is a plus because I have a 2 year old), plus it was on sale! It was a little hard to get used to since the paint would "rope up" if it was too thick. I added some Floteral and it evened out pretty well. And I can tell you after SEVERAL messy little hands getting on the console it cleans up great! BTW, the color I choose was "Dover White." (4.) For the doors I really didn't want to mess with hand brushing it because of all the grooves in my construction. So I bought the cheapest HPLV spray gun I could find ($30) and primed it with several coats, with gentle sanding in between coats, and sprayed it with the Acrylic Latex Enamel. One thing I did learn was to filter the paint before putting it in the little canister. I just used the cheap paint filters 4 for $2 from Home Depot. (5.) Also for the doors we decided to buy a collection of different but similar knobs on Etsy. THE TOP: (1.) After joining the four pieces of Douglas Fir it basically sat in the garage for 8 months. I routed the edges with a quarter-round bit and sanded it. (2.) I then used Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Two coats, sand in between. (3.) Because I had never stained anything before, I made sure I stained the underside first for practice. I used Minwax Wood Finish stain, color: Dark Walnut. I applied with a rag. I learned to do LONG strokes wiping on the finish and not to mess with it once it started to dry. Don't apply too much and it's ok if some spots are lighter than others, just let dry and then go back over just that lighter area. I felt that little mistakes made the piece have more authentic character anyway. (4.) Once everything was dry I applied Minwax Wipe-On Poly, two light coats with a rag. You can certainly apply more liberally than I did but I didn't want a glass top finish, just something that made it smooth and easy to wipe off the dust. For the top I wanted the little nicks to show up with the natural wood grain. (5.) As you can maybe tell from some of the pictures I screwed the top in from brackets on the base that I had made. It's nice to not have any screws shown on the top.