About two months after we moved into the house my friend Jennie left a bottle of green food dye on my untreated butcher block. The bottle leaked and the dye soaked into the wood overnight. I didn't take a picture of the damage, but I did snap a shot of the counter after I had attempted to lighten the damage. After numerous treatments of alcohol, lemon juice and salt (advice for a carpenter friend), paint thinner, vinegar and baking soda and anything else i could think of using.
I originally wanted to burn the counter for a rustic rail road tie look, but it was a slow process and it was using much more propane than I expected. This is after one fat boy.
I also tried pouring a small amount of gas on the surface, letting it soak, and then lighting it, but only the liquid burns, it doesn't do anything to the surface. Same result from soaking cloth and lighting it on the surface.
After months ( ok, two years) of a half green, half burnt counter I stained it with Minwax Jacobean and sealed with Minwax High Gloss Water Based Poly.
This is after 5 coats of stain. You can still see the outline of the green slotch if you know where to look, but overall I love it. I feel like it gives out kitchen a much more custom look.
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| Builder Basic Before |
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| After |
We also finally got some stools too!! Yes, We had those other mismatched stools for two years also. No, I am not ashamed of my sad seating choices or my dirty kitchen. This is real life. The stools are Zuo Escape in Natural. I actually wanted to paint them when I first got them, but since the counter color change, I am having second thoughts.
