The Brew Stand Debacle

I hate staining. It's simply a pain in the butt. So when the 5 or so hours I'd put into the build of the brew stand was complete, and all that was left was a little painting, I was excited to be done. It turns out, I had no idea what I was doing. Brushing it on like paint doesn't work, and just creates these hideous looking streaks. My beautiful stand now looks like it has leprosy, and I've got to figure out how to fix it. I've got two choices it looks like...add a few more coats of stain, or sand the stain off and paint. I'll probably try a few more coats before throwing in the towel.

What it's supposed to look like (from the electric brewery site):



What it looks like now...yes, I gave up on staining:




Man, I hate staining.