Turning ugly old junk into useful furniture

Now isn't that a bright idea?
Last summer, when my dad needed to clear out a storage building, he asked all of us if we wanted any of the old furniture. I picked out a couple of pieces--one for sentimental value. (It was my daughter's little wardrobe and I thought I might could make a toy cabinet for my grandchildren) and the other because it looked like it would make a good "fly-tying cabinet" for my husband, whose blog name is Turtle, aka Turtle the Fearless.

Anyway, here's the cabinet with its three heavy coats of paint--green, black, and sunshine yellow. There's a kind of contact paper on the top and it's going to be a mess to scrape off, but underneath--ah there you can see real wood.

I hope it's salvageable, but for tying flies it really doesn't have to look like Ethan Allen. I'll have to replace the hardware, of course, although that wire handle does add a little charm of its own.

Here's a record of my daily progress:
Off with the Old
Elbow Grease 
Little by Little 
Sanding 
Staining 
Finally Finished Furniture