Main bath vanity redo

So to begin I hate lighter colored wood.  Unfortunately the home we bought is filled with light colored wood.  From the main bathroom, to the kitchen, to the wood flooring...all light colored wood.  I, myself am a dark cherry, mahogany, sometimes walnut kinda girl.  Its all about the dark woods, jeweled tones, Queen Anne style and damask patterns.  So buying the house with the light colored wood was a large leap for me.  At first I was upset that we would not be able to replace the floors for a few years, I knew the replacing/repainting of the cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen would be more realistic so I was not upset about that.  Then I found this pin on Pinterest...this woman is a savior. Her blog is also really great.  She introduced me to General Finishes Gel Stain.  Here is her link.   And here is my before and after.

She suggests the use of a sock.  I however found that it goes on much smoother and covers more in one coat when using a foam brush or a microfiber roller brush.  It took me less time (I started at 1130 this morning and I was finished in a less than six hours, not to mention all the time I spent doing errands and other projects while it dried) and I did not need to do continual coats, just two all together.  I also chose not to add the poly, I am not a fan of shiny furniture.  I also tested it on a scrap piece of flooring we had in the garage and guess what...it stained the ugly light wood a nice walnut.  So I bought the cherry in the quart size.  The Java color that I bought was 1/2 a pint and it covered not only the bath vanity, but I also have enough left over for the beadboard that we are going to put up in the main bath.  This stuff is amazing and can be addictive with all that you can transform. 

Happy Re-mollying!
Molly