This thing was so nasty when I first got it. I found it on craigslist for $20. It stunk up my house! It was caked in 3 layers of paint that I had to remove with varnish/paint remover.

This part was a pain in the butt! I had to apply many coats of varnish remover before getting down to the real wood. Once I was there, I stained the wood with a walnut wood stain and coated it with poly-acrylic to give it some protection (and a pretty glazed finish).