China Cabinet Makeover

Hello there! How are you this fine, chilly day? I just put some Nutella Hot Chocolate in the crock pot and can't wait to try it out later. Sounds warm and yummy. :o) 

This past summer I worked on a project that I'd been wanting to do for years. I was given this china cabinet from a dear friend when we were stationed in Japan. It was her grandmother's, but it just didn't fit in her home so she blessed me with it. Here you can see it when we first moved in to this house. Our formal dining room is open to the living room and doesn't have any walls for this to sit against so I tried using it in the breakfast nook. It didn't fit. :o( A few years ago we remodeled the kitchen and added cabinets to this corner so the china hutch went downstairs to act as a dresser for Michelle for a bit. That didn't work very well, so it eventually went in to storage. 

 I always knew I wanted to paint it someday. I wanted it to have an antique, distressed feel, not an old worn out one. This poor cabinet has been through a lot of moves, several families, a lot of kids, and it was showing a LOT of wear and tear.

 See what I mean? There's a difference between looking distressed and looking old.

Once our son moved out, I decided to turn his room into a guest room and wanted to use this cabinet in there for storage.

I started by removing the hardware. The strips of wood here were holding the glass in the upper doors. I used a flat head screwdriver to gently pry them out. Once the first one was out, the others came out pretty easily. I left the nails in the wood to re-attach them with later.

 Then the sanding began. Lots and lots of sanding. I knew I was going for a distressed look, so I didn't sand down to completely smooth wood, but I did want to get most of the smooth finish off so the paint would stick. You see those "louvered" doors? Whoever designed them did not plan on this piece ever being refinished...ever. (I really do not like this person.)

 Thankfully, I was able to use a palm sander for most of the surfaces. I planned on staining the top of this piece, so I did sand it down as far as I could and as smooth as I could starting with a rough grit and working to a super fine grit.

After sanding, I applied a very light, coat of blue paint. This was actually a mix of several different blues we had from various other projects around the house. I applied it in a very haphazard way, not worrying about complete coverage. This layer was just going to show through here and there so I didn't need to be super neat with it. I did, however, make sure there were not blobs or drips, especially at corners and in those louvers. 

The next layer of paint was a bit darker, though you can't tell by this photo. This one I tried to do a better job of covering and getting things smooth. 

This photo shows the color a little better.

Once all the parts were painted, I got out some sand paper and started sanding it down to expose the different layers underneath, getting down to bare wood in some places. I did NOT use the palm sander. I wanted to do it by hand so I could better control how much sanded off and where. I focused on taking off more around edges where it would naturally wear more.

Top drawer sanded, bottom drawer not.

Then I used disposable sponge brushes to brush on some minwax stain and cotton rags to wipe it off. I wiped on a large area, but not too large. After doing an area like this, I made sure to use the rag and wipe the overlapping areas really well to blend in the stain and not have any lines.

Side note, if you have really long hair like I do, make sure it is pinned up so you don't end up with a new color. Oh, and stock up on disposable gloves too. You'll need them. 

The painted areas only received one coat of stain, but I think I used 3 coats on the top. 

Here you can see the different layers of paint and how the stain helped darken both the paint colors and the exposed wood. 

Although the stain I used was a stain and sealer, I did use a wipe on sealer on top of this anyway, just to give it some more protection. The final step was to figure out what hardware went where and put everything back together.

 Oops, forgot to paint the trim that holds the glass inside the door. Oh well. Not going to worry about it now. I simply lined the nails up with the holes that were already there and tapped them into place.

Here it is all done and waiting for my handsome hubby to come home and help me move it into the house. 

 First I had to put it in the yard to get a good shot in the sunshine. Love.

I will show you it in its new home, but that will have to wait till later as I need to get started on dinner. We're having Creamy Pesto and Chicken Pasta. So yummy!!

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!