Lane Cedar Chest Facelift

While Dumpster Diving (as Jay likes to call it) at the Goodwill in Alameda, I found this beautiful Lane Cedar Chest in perfect condition! As soon as, I walked in, saw it to my left and walked straight to the sales register to claim it! It was $25!! Can you believe it?!

I had no idea where to even begin. Luckily, Jay took great interest in taking on this project with me and he did all the research and bought all the necessary equipment. I told him my vision and he delivered! All I had to do was show up to put in some work! Jay bought a Skil 1/4 Palm sander and some 40 grit sandpaper to strip off the old stain.

Here's what it looks like when it was stripped naked of its original finish. The left side is the original stain and underneath the cedar wood was just beautiful!

Before we placed any product on the chest, we went over the entire chest with a 180 grit sand paper, to smooth out the surface in preparation for the staining.

• Here is the materials we used: Minwax Wood Finish Stain in Ebony, Minwax Pre-stain Wood Conditioner, Minwax wipe on Polyurethane, & Elmer's Probond wood filler.
  

• First the Pre-Stain: Doesn't it look great just like this? I love the look of the woodgrain and the natural cedar color.
  

• We lifted the chest onto our recycling bin placed a drop cloth underneath it and we were able to go around the chest with the first coat of stain without it getting directly onto our garage floor!:

• Here is what it looked like after we applied the first coat of stain and then wiped off the excess. Minwax has step by step directions on their website.
  

We applied 2 more coats of stain to achieve the desired result. Of course with 4-6 hours drying time in between each coat, this is not necessary a project you can complete in one day. And here it is in all its glory in its new home our living room! It serves as a great storage compartment for our pillows and throw blankets and as extra seating as well!