A Gel Staining goddess is born.

First, let me begin by introducing myself. I am a gel staining Goddess. I sometimes answer to Mandi. Or mama. or not at all, if I am on Facebook. And my review for Java Gel Stain on amazon.com is #3. Now that we've established my true identities and hierarchy to all mankind, I would like to say that blogs are for narcissistic people. And why yes, I DID just use google.com to spell-check narcissistic. But, all my friends on Facebook have outvoted me on the decision for me to create a blog, so here it is. Read it or not, I don't care. It took me exactly 32 minutes to come up with a name for this weird public diary, since mamapajamas and isthisonetaken and isthisonetakendamnit and whatisablogspotanyway were all taken.


Now that we've established that I am also modest and humble to a fault, onward with the juicy details of my affair with Gel Staining.


My first project was the kitchen of my newly purchased home. Go big or go home is my motto. Do it or die. Sink or swim. Not really, it just happened to be THE. MOST. OUTDATED. GRANNY. KITCHEN. I'VE. EVER. SEEN. and it had to go.












Until I got the quote for a total kitchen makeover. Then I was like, ok let's be rational...$12,000 for new kitchen cabinetry is unrealistic, even for gotta-have-it-now Mandi. Then I priced Kitchen Refacing, which is basically buying all new cabinet doors and drawers and buying the matching paint for the frames. $1,650. OK, I thought, I can do that. Then I started using their measuring technique, threw the tape measure across the room after 4 minutes and muttered a few choice words. There had to be an easier way. So I started googling. Oh yeah, that's another name I answer to, Google Queen. Anyways, I set eyes on Gel Stain and it was love at first sight of those before and after pics. Did I have the yellow/orange 1997 era Oak Cabinets? YES! Did I want dark, sexy, smoldering Espresso Cabinets? YES, YES! Did I have a stay-at-home-mommy-budget? YES, YES, YES! Come to me, Gel Stain. So I ordered it (Here!) on Amazon.com obliged after 4 days, and there the can of Gel stain sat. Quietly. Eyeballing each other. All of a sudden I was scared to death to open pandora's box.


I had read all the reviews, seriously - all of them. Watched youtube, read the other excited, blabbering blogs. Looked at my sad, dismal honey-oak 1997 cabinets. I slowly unscrewed the doors and labeled them with my anal kitchen chart, laid out in my garage. Scared, unsure, wide eyed, kicking myself for being an overeager sheep. So, I re-read all the reviews, re-watched the videos, tried to pump myself up. Even called a contractor for a quote to do it. ($3500? uhhhh...) Then one day, after 3 weeks of looking at our exposed dishes and sippy cups (cabinet doors were still off) I started washing the frames with Dawn and water & again with just water. When my husband (the infamous Clay, who we will reintroduce after we discuss my gel affair here) came home, he "sanded" them for me, if that's what you want to call it, he more of less ran a sandpaper block over them once each and was done with the whole kitchen in 4 minutes. I rinsed with water again, to remove any sawdust with tack cloth. Starting with the "fake" wood sides, I tried to follow the man's sock and wipe away method. It looked like a toddler smeared dookie on it. So I used a sponge brush and went over it very very lightly, and evenly. Looked awesome.


I ended up buying the Economy sized bag of sponge brushes from Wal-Mart ($1.00 for like 12) and used those. Easier to get into the cracks, easier & less messy to apply, more even looking outcome. Plus, no wiping away, so that's one less step. Yipee! I thought it would take 3 coats like the other reviews suggested, to get the completely covered espresso look, but I guess since I am using a sponge brush and not wiping off, 2 coats were the magic trick for me. I do 1 coat 1 day, wait 24 hours or more, do a second coat, then flip over and repeat. Waiting for the doors to dry was the hardest part!


As I put everything back together, I realized I was quite like the Mouse in the kids book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie..." In other words, the laminate countertops had to go. So I started pricing Granite, and was lead to a local fabricator here in DFW area, from Craigslist *eek scary* but he turned out to be AWESOME and within my budget. After he installed them, I stepped back and realized I hated the backsplash. So that was next to go, again my Granite guy "hooked me up" with his cousin, and he installed the glass mosaic backsplash. (I did do the grout, but that's a whole 'nother story and I will never do that crap again. Even I know my limits!) THEN the lighting had to go, so back to Lowes I went. Oh and the kitchen sink. And faucet. Surprisingly, I am happy with black appliances over stainless steel, so they are staying put.


Here is the finished kitchen project.














A side-by-side before & after





After taking a short break from the Kitchen updating obsession, I have went on to Gel stain our front door, front and back. Which took a whopping 2 whole days. And whoever stained it before did a shitty job, I might add. The red stain had dried in dripping streaks. They should have used Gel stain. Seriously.






Then, as I walked around the house with my can of stain and an evil glint in my eye, I found my end tables were scratched up and didn't match the rest of our furniture *GASP!*






I also did our staircase banister, and went over it with a 220 grit sandpaper on the edges to "distress" it. Some love the look, others do not. I personally am in LERVE with it. (And true to form, once I did it, I had to take up the old flooring and add a nice plush carpeting...still giving that Mouse a cookie)









Here is a hideous, gaudy gold mirror I did as well...no sanding required, and I did not use a poly to keep the rustic "wood" look






Currently, I am working on my eldest son's bedroom furniture and will update this page when it's complete with new hardware. Stay tuned! Or not!