A Storage Cabinet – The Ultimate Makeover
Last year I shared that we had sold our house and downsized now that all of the kids were gone and married. We purchased a house that was built in 1956 from the original owners and in need of a lot of love. The last 12 months have been spent doing a major renovation, more projects then I was in the mood for, and the continual shift to try to fit all of our stuff efficiently (and stylishly) in the house.
Finding a Storage Cabinet
The past month I set my sights on finding the perfect storage cabinet for the dining room, which already has a hutch and sideboard that don’t offer much storage, so I needed something to house my milk glass collection. The search was on.
As luck would have it, Chantelle and I ended up at an estate sale. It was the second and last day (which offered a 50% discount) but it was raining and I wasn’t feeling hopeful. I had seen a primitive cabinet in the photos online that looked kind of the size range I was searching for, but you never know until you see it. When I walked into the garage, I can’t remember if I was first horrified or excited. This is what I found.
The cabinet was covered in dust and grime, with the drawer in a pile of pieces, but the size was perfect and when I opened it, the inside patina on the wood made my heart skip a beat. The estate sale guy yelled out, “Do you need a project?” I smiled weakly, not really, but YES. We loaded it in the van.
Repairs and Painting
When I brought it home, I was pretty sure my hubby would freak out when he saw it. Let’s just say, his imagination isn’t as exercised as mine and this cabinet looked diseased, but he saw the paint color I had chosen and he got all excited. All of the sudden, I had an assistant!
It also had the same shaker door style as the cabinets in our new kitchen so I figured it was meant to be.
First, I needed to knock down some of this texture, so I scraped and sanded it down.
Chantelle had painted this really cool cabinet using Paddleboat in our Bungalow 47 Furniture Paint line, and it had a lot of texture, so I was pretty sure I was going to love the outcome.
After sanding, I vacuumed it with the shop vac.
Next came the scrubbing and this piece really needed it. I used a little Dawn liquid soap to cut some of the grease.
Next, it needed some crown moulding. It was missing it’s original and it just needed that detail. I ended up painting the crown moulding with the color Wood Beam (dark brown) to give it the same base color as the rest of the piece.
I was finally ready to paint the body of the cabinet! Since it was so tall, I laid it across two sawhorses so I could paint it quickly. Using our chalk and clay paint, it only needed one coat! I ended up using less than a pint of paint on this huge piece.
I distressed it, using a wet distress technique. Since there was so much texture, the dampness of the rag really worked the paint in and around the texture that I wanted to highlight.
On Display
The cabinet was originally a closet, and I built a few shelves inside sized to what I needed to store. I decided to cover the shelves with wrapping paper for a little fun! The interior natural wood was so pretty and I didn’t want the newness of the pine shelves to stand out.
She now sits pretty in the corner of the casual dining area. Every morning when I walk in, the color just makes me smile. Using the chalk and clay paint was so easy and made the project go quick. I had the cabinet done in a day and the next morning we brought it in and filled it up with 15 boxes of milk glass unpacked from the storage unit!
Now for the 47 other projects I have waiting to show you! Stay tuned. Be happy, Jill
Beautiful work!! Thank you for sharing the whole project! I’ve used another brand and never heard of this chalk paint before but I’m going to look into it now.
I like this cabinet! I also love milk glass! I found a set of 8 wine glasses at a garage sale for $1. I was so excited and my husband just looked at me like I had 2 heads. I also have a cake stand and several of the bowls on stands. Not sure what they are called technically. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the tutorial. I love seeing a project from start to finish. Beautiful final result!
Gorgeous project! That is one fantastic blue color!
Hi Jill!
Jenny here from flippinvintage.com. I can’t get over blue, it’s beautiful! I’ve not used Junk Gypsy paint yet. I’m thinking a road trip to Bungalow47 is in order. Maybe tomorrow? ????
Linda, So glad you love the cabinet, and YES, add crown moulding to yours! Also, I love my bug! I have had it more than 10 years and have only 32,000 miles on it!
Hi Jill! I stumbled across your blog while looking for info on the Junk Gypsy paint colors. I have a cupboard very similar to this and I’ve been debating adding some crown molding to the top of mine as well. Now that I’ve seen your’s, I’m definitely going to do that! And I love that shade of blue! But what really drew me in was seeing that little glimpse of your car behind the cabinet! I had the same exact car! I really loved Pixie 99 (yep, I named her). I just traded her in last week on a new VW Beetle convertible, this time in Platinum. So I felt a little twinge of nostalgia seeing your car peeking out of the background in your photo. Do you love your car as much as I loved mine?
Awesome color with all that texture! (love the draperies!!)
SuSan