Completed, Refinished Sideboard!

When we remodeled our kitchen 20 months ago I had planned from the get go on buying a sideboard. We took out quite a few cupboards and I knew we would need the extra space. I was mostly interested in a mid-century modern type of sideboard, but the $1200 and up prices kept holding me back considering how much we already spent on the rest of the remodel. Every once in a while, I would half-heartedly scour Craig's List in hopes of finding one, but no go.

Finally, my dad had heard enough of my struggles and offered me a built-in sideboard he had ripped out of a 1905 building he was turning into condos. It was slightly beat up, it had no top, and it most definitely NOT mid-century modern, but it was free.

I thought about it for 4 or 5 months, wondering how I should alter it. Should I strip it and re-stain or paint it? Should I get Paperstone or marble for the top of it?

I finally realized that I needed to make sure we really liked it before investing a lot of money in it. So I cleaned it with T.S.P. and that took off a surprising amount of dirt and random paint. Then I changed out all the wooden knobs with some black metal knobs and gave the whole thing a good polish with Pledge. Finally, I bought a nice piece of birch plywood, had Home Depot cut it to fit, sanded it and stained it with a black satin stain with a protective coat to boot.

The completed project. All in all, it cost about $70 for the wood, the stain, the knobs, and cleaning supplies. Not bad considering I barely used the cleaning supplies and have over half the wood left.
What you don't see in the picture is the modern metal and glass wine rack to the left of the sideboard. But I can deal with this for a while. Space to put my napkins, cakeplate, random bowls and serving platters, how did I live so long without a sideboard?