Java gel stain take 2

It's been a while and it's really obvious my blogging skills are so sub-par. I can't seem to finish a project and just sit down and reflect on it. I finish three more projects before I even start thinking about the first. 

Anyhoo, tons of stuff has gone down in Laika land. We bought a puppy, finished up some projects, I pinned a few million things to my "new home ideas" board on Pinterest... And then I realized I haven't shared any of our new accomplishments!

Last week I was kind of feeling blah. We've got some big projects we keep mentioning but never just start on, and little pain in the ass ones I just never went around and completed. This is one of those pain in the ass projects it's been put off as long as it has because the first gel stain project was such a pain in the ass. Onward to gel stain part deux.

The best thing about repeating a project on another piece of furniture is you learn from your screw ups. First thing I did was buy a contractors pack of masking tape. Could have probably used whatever but the blue contractor tape is double the price, and I was about to tape floors and stone so I was not about to spend all my money. Taped floor (genius), vanity top, walls, and the INSIDE OF THE CABINETS AND DRAWERS (genius) until I felt that whatever I put my gel stained mitt on wouldn't permanately devalue. Then it was time again to break out the gel. Even the smell reminded me of sadder times when I had to get in every nook and cranny of 34 cabinet faces, but with my trusty vinyl gloves and sock mitt I went to town on the bathroom vanities. 

Same results as the kitchen. Coat one is a complete panic attack. Coat two you're trying  to convince yourself that coat three will be awesome and worthwhile while your pulse is 130 bpm. Coat three you pull yourself off the ledge because it really doesn't suck, and coat four for normal people makes you feel accomplished.. But for me on coat four my new husky puppy snuck his way into the garage and pounced on a cabinet face so I felt like a moron. All good though.  Three helpful words for completing a gel stain project: sock, glove, exfoliate. I get that shit on me everywhere and I buy a floor scrub brush and a giant bottle of dawn into the shower  to get that stuff off. Acetone removes the stain off things you don't want stained... Like ceramic tile. :/ 

Anyway. Looks good. Master bathroom has had a huge overhaul so it will get it's own entry.