My daughter “commissioned” this bedside table for her newly decorated room. She wanted it black, but still wanted to see the grain of the wood to match some other furniture.  I used poplar and Minwax Express Color water-based stain and finish with a shellac top coat. The Minwax product did a great job of evenly covering the poplar color variations, while letting the grain shine through. Since my father helped with part of it while visiting it was a particularly enjoyable piece to make. As usual most of it was done by hand. I included a secret compartment with a special message to make it fun for my daughter as well.

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