This is the first project I tried, and it really took a whole lot longer than it should have. I started it without all the tools I really needed to do it the way that I wanted to, so it sat upstairs with no trim on it being used for probably 2-3 months. I managed to pick up a sander, and then I finally saw a sale at Lowe's for a finish nailer and air compressor combo that was too good to pass up, and was ready to put the trim on it. Then when I finally had everything, I was able to finish it in about a week, between the sanding and the sanding and the sanding.. and then the sanding! The stain and finish took a few days too. I definitely learned a lot from this project, definitely check for square to cut down on sanding time to make things line up, and go easy on the wood glue. Trying to sand it off of the exposed parts of the wood are a real pain. Then a big thing I learned the hard way was to be careful with the stainable wood putty, I read that it would be good to use a Qtip to put wood putty in the holes. Sanding all of the excess putty off the wood was a really time consuming process, but I do think that mistake did make for an extra smooth finish, I must have spent an entire day sanding all the excess wood putty off that was dried on from my original mistakes. All in all it was a great learning experience, and I really did have a lot of fun with this one. Can't wait to start my next project, thanks a lot Ana! You really are an inspiration to those of us who are still learning, and I can't wait to explore my new hobby a little further in the future and see where I can go with it.
