How to Refinish a Stereo Cabinet using Stain and Stencil

In this post I’ll be sharing How to Refinish a Stereo Cabinet using Stain and Stencil.

This a fantastic stereo cabinet, that has found a home in our living room.

We love listening to songs on it, dancing and singing our little hearts out. 

The only thing that doesn’t work so well is the record player.  

I had refinished it a while back, but wasn’t quite satisfied with the brown painted lid.

It needed something more, and of course my mind immediately went to stencils. 

I really wanted something to do with music, and I thought a quote or excerpt from a song would be nice, and settled upon the chorus from “Blessed Assurance”. 

That was as far as I got in my planning though. 

When I refinished this curbside coffee table, it inspired me to redo all the furniture in the living room for a matching set look. 

I’m happy to say I finally refinished this piece as well.

The cabinet was carried outside, and I took the orbital sander to it with low grit sandpaper, which took off most of the finish to give it this look below.

I then took a piece of 120 grit to the cabinet top. 

It worked great to take off the rest of the paint and old stain under the paint, as well as smooth the surface.

There were places on the lip of the cabinet top that I couldn’t reach with the orbital sander, so I hand sanded there.  

I then took a piece of 220 grit sandpaper over the entire piece before staining. 

Minwax Dark Walnut Stain was applied to the cabinet top.

Then I stenciled the Blessed Assurance excerpt on the top of the cabinet. 

I made this stencil using my Cricut Machine using the font Tingler Script and I purchased these beautiful corner embellishments from this Creative Market Shop. 

After it was stenciled, I took a piece of 220 grit sandpaper, and distressed the lettering.  Then I applied more stain where sanded.

After the stain was dry, I applied 3 coats of polyurethane, letting it dry and sanding between coats. 

I also ended up repainting parts where the sander had scuffed the cabinet. 

Then I distressed the painted part of the cabinet.

Do you like the after look? Do you have a favorite song or poem that you would consider putting on a piece of furniture? I would love to know what you think!

Thanks for sharing How to Refinish a Stereo Cabinet using Stain and Stencil!