Furniture Needs

Geod

Got some questions for you guys:

1. Where can I buy some decent quality furniture, but at a good price. I like IKEA alot, and bought most of my stuff there, but they don't have what I wanted when it came to an Entertainment Center. So someplace like IKEA, that isn't IKEA essentially... I live in the DC area too, if anyone has any particular places in mind.

2. I have an untreated kitchen cart for my apartment, and want to treat it somehow to protect it against fluids, and other food stuffs. I'm not going to use it as a chopping board or anything, but just something so it won't get screwed up. I don't know anything when it comes to staining/protecting wood, so any advice would help.

Thanks!

Cycophant

1) Can't really make many suggestions here, but sometimes flea markets and used furniture stores can be a treasure trove of stuff. Granted, a lot of it is just old, worn out furniture that no one wants anymore, but sometimes you can really luck out and find some unique items.

2) Do you plan on using this kitchen cart to prepare any foods on or anything, or will it just be to store items? Basically, will something you eat be regularly touching the surface? Because if not, a simple good two coats of clear varnish will work well. Otherwise, you might need to find something a bit more conducive to a kitchen environment. But varnish is probably safe for pretty much everything except uses like a cutting board, which you explicitly said you weren't planning on doing. So a polyurethane varnish should work best. If you want to stain it first, go ahead, or just leave it as its natural colour. Lightly sand the surface, and remove any paint if there is any. Clean off any dust/grease, and apply the urethane. Thinner, more coats is better than thicker, fewer coats. Two or three should be more than adequate.