Baker's Rack Makeover

2 Materials
$20
4 Days
Medium
Somewhere in the house, Handan threw back her head, took a deep breath and let loose a tremendous “Baaaaaaaaaabes?”

Crap. She wanted something. More to the point, she wanted something from me. Sharpening that point – she wanted me to drive her somewhere. It’s all in the intonation and inflection of her voice. I was loafing on the sofa and wanted no part of that invocation. I feigned sleep.

She entered the room. “Oh, you’re sleeping? Yeah, so I found a baker’s rack on Craigslist. Can you drive me to South Windsor to pick it up? Pleeeease?” What? Who the hell keeps yapping after “Oh, you’re sleeping?” But my need to vegetate didn’t factor into her calculations. She wanted the baker’s rack, and she wanted it right then and there. I sighed. Defeated. Again. I pressed a button on my power recliner and listened to the protestations of the electric motor as it struggled to fold me into an upright sitting position. Once vertical, I snatched my keys and wallet and headed for the door.

“Let’s go, woman!” The sooner we procured the rack, the sooner I could get back to the serious business of lounging.

“So…what’s a baker’s rack?” I said.

She explained.

“I see. And what are you going to do with it?” I said.

She told me she would use it as a potting table in the shed. Okay, then…

We found the seller’s house, plopped some Jacksons in her hand, tossed it in the back of The Donkey (our car) and turned back home. As promised, Handan set it up in the shed. But did she ever do any potting on that thing? You decide. The picture on the left is how it looked after a year. I’m pretty sure it looked like this even after a month.

When we tackled our big shed project last summer, we recovered the rack from the wreckage of the re-org and realized it was ripe for a rescue. (I dare you to fit another “r” word into that sentence!) Behold the uncluttered rack on the right, below.
Shortly after taking this photo, I found the following note affixed to the scratched and peeling top.
Crap. Why did it have to be me? I glanced around for another sucker to pin the responsibility on. No one. Drat! Well, if I was going down, I was going to drag Handan down with me.


"Babes!" I called. "You need to paint the metal part!"


She gave the bones a few coats of Rust-Oleum flat black spray paint.
Hehehe...that would keep her busy while I procrastinated on the countertop/drawer contraption. I carried it into the basement...


...and forgot about it for a couple of months.


When Handan started to threaten me, er, I mean, when I remembered it again, I hurried down to my basement workshop to finish the project.


I looked it over. It was a Walmart product.


Okay, I could work with that. I considered my options:
  1. Do something fancy and complicated and time-consuming.
  2. Do the bare minimum and call it a day.


I chose option 2. 


My plan was to simply sand off the old finish, stain it something a little darker, then finish it with some glossy poly. I started by dismantling it – an easy task, since it was held together by just four bolts.


I sanded away the old finish and then stained everything with Minwax Red Mahogany.
It didn't look good, so I decided to build a new counter top for the rack.



I sealed the top, the sides and the drawer faces with my favorite poly. Since I didn’t want it to be too shiny, I only applied two or three coats. (Really, I don’t remember which. Maybe it was four? It’s a wonder I still remember to write these posts! Oh, wait…Handan tells me to do it.)
I bolted the thing back together, re-assembled the drawers and tasked Handan with finding me some new drawer pulls. She found an old pair in her craft room and painted them black for me. Handan and I re-attached the countertop/drawer thingy (someone please help me here – I really should be using a better word than “thingy!”)


And here is our baker's rack, a far cry from the Walmart original!
Thanks for reading!


-Greg
Suggested materials:
  • Poly
  • Wood
Handan & Greg @ The Navage Patch
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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