My friend, Ben, has been working on a surprise project for his girlfriend for awhile. He finished all the woodwork on Saturday and wanted to put finishing touches on it on Monday night after work. It was raining so he used my covered porch. The "finishing touches" ended up taking about 5 hours and consisted of stretching a small amount of stain more than I ever thought possible. And also hammering in a railroad pin, not once but twice that was so loud my ears were ringing for hours. Also, I'd like to apologize to my neighbors as this was done at about 9 pm and echoed throughout the neighborhood. I wonder what the hell they thought it was?? It wasn't that he was working slow or anything. It's just that he had confused the fact that it was only half done with what finishing touches actually meant ;P.  Plus, we kept adding and changing little things and coming up with new ideas.

This is what half done looks like, Ben :)

Attaching an antique light fixture that still worked!

Staining in the dark

I helped him hang up the final product and it was perfect! The stain made it to the final slat of wood and the lace stayed clean. There was a moment of a heart sinking when he turned it on and the light didn't work, but only due to the cord being a little short and pulled out of the outlet. Yay! Great job, Ben! It is such a cool piece and I can't wait to see all the creations to come. Keep your eyes open for beautiful creations from him. You can give orders now before he gets too expensive. ;) I would highly suggest it.

How beautiful is this?

So charming

He built the lace filled frame!