Magazine wood working

I lightly sanded the hall tree with 220 last night and applied a 3rd coat of poly.  Even with being careful I managed to sand through the poly and some of the stain in a few spots.  I have been trying to be careful to not make the coats of poly too thick and I think I have been making them a little too thin.  I am leaving the light parts there for now as I think it gives it a little character. I was planning on putting a 4th coat on just the top shelf and seat but I think I am going to put an extra coat on the whole thing.

 I am going to oversand some of my test pieces down to bare wood and see if I can put some brown stain on it and make it look weathered.  If that turns out well I may redo some of the hall tree at a later date.