The Kitchen Thingy Project-- Part Two

When last we left Kitchen Thingy, it was an ugly dirty mess:

There was nothing to it but to get down and start cleaning that mess up. First I used a screwdriver as a chisel to get the magnets out and then to remove the blobs of Gorilla Glue they were stuck in. Pounded out two other things that were stuck in there like nobody's business (one was irremovable), washed it with soap and warm water and sanded it with an orbital sander and ended up with this:

Still awful. Then it hit me: flip it over, dumbass! Other side cleaned and sanded;

After I figured out I was a dumbass, it was time to unwittingly waste some more time. I did this by aging the wood with tea and vinegar and steel wool. This took quite some time because the vinegar and steel wool had to sit for not a small amount of time. At least 48 hours. The tea also sat for that long, but it wasn't really necessary. This is a jar of tea and a jar of vinegar and steel wool

This is what a jar of vinegar and steel wool looks like after 3 days:

There is added balsamic vinegar in the second pic, for a darker aging. Or so I hoped. My hopes were realized:

In Part Three, I'll explain how all of this was a big, giant waste of time.
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80's romance girl is going out on a date with a sleeveless cocktail dress with a crinoline skirt. And a bolero jacket. Because who wasn't all about the prom in the 80's?