Here is the finished result of the desk that I was building with my husband! We chose to stain it a much darker brown since we already have a lot of lighter wood in the house and it turned out really nice. You can still see the wood grain which is what we were hoping for.
Staining and applying the polyurethane (which is like a finishing seal) was much easier than the actual building but surprising just as fun! It's amazing how much you can learn from just starting projects. I quickly found out that it's much easier to stain with a brush and using a rag to rub it in - you also get more of the wood grain to show up that way. With the polyurethane, it was a lot easier for me to apply an even coat with a foam brush than a regular brush (you can see the difference the polyurethane makes)!
This was a really fun and new experience that I hope I could do more of in the future!
Thanks for reading!