DIY Antique Stain for wood

I'm sleepy today.  We had a huge thunderstorm last night that woke up Elena at 4:30.  She woke up screaming "DADA!!!" and when he went in to get her, she had pulled her comforter up over her head.  We let her jump in bed between us and she smashed her arm over her eyes to cover them during the storm.  Every few minutes, she would ask from behind the arm, "Momma, the sunder stop yet?"  Just when I would tell her yes, a huge crack would start again.  There is something about a Texan thunderstorm that can scare the daylights out of you.  Maybe because there are less valleys and mountains for the sounds to get trapped in?  

I was kind of glad I had someone to snuggle with...

So excuse the ramblyness but here is the point of the post:

When we moved, we couldn't fit anything into our pods that were bulky or fragile.  The items that we ended up tossing were our side tables.  When we found our new house down here in Texas, we needed real furniture to decorate and couldn't spend a lot on the extras like side tables.  

So Jason got to work!

(Before and After!)

Jason used a bunch of scrap wood we had leftover to build the table.  I asked him what tutorial he used to build the table so I could link to it.  "Four legs and a flat top."  Helpful I know...

And we would rather spend our money on real paint for the bathroom, kitchen and den, so he found a tutorial for staining wood with steel wool and vinegar online! (How to Oxidize Wood Tutorial)

I dutifully picked up the steel wool and dropped it in the vinegar to soak...

Yeah...that's not steel wool.  $3.00 down the drain.

Okay - here is the real steel wool!  We let it soak for about 2 days in vinegar.

STEP ONE: While the vinegar was soaking, Jason brewed iced tea and painted the entire side table with the iced tea since it was pine wood.

STEP TWO: When the vinegar was dark, it was ready to go so he just gave the whole thing a brush down!

(see the cutie in the top right corner?  He is standing at the top of a verrrrrrry steep driveway and about to give me a heart attack!!!)

This is just the first coat!  Look how dark it is already!!

Back to the cutie:

If you look at the legs and under the top of the table, you can see the spots where Jason didn't brush with iced tea.  The spots without iced tea wouldn't hold the steel wool/vinegar mixture very well.  He had to retouch those areas with the leftover walnut stain we had from the bookshelves.

He gave it two coats and then sealed it with Clear Minwax when it was dry.

Here is the table in its temporary resting place:

I want it close to my workspace as I finish up the perfect birthday gift for a 1-year-old!!!

This kid is full of cool tricks.  Check out his squat!

What should I have Jason build me next?!?!