China Cabinet Reveal

Before and After, a photo by Heather Says on Flickr.

A side-by-side comparison on how this cabinet came from hell and got a very heavenly do-over.

I'm so in love with how she came out. I'm glad with my paint choice. It was a lot of work! Take a peak at the process.

The only bummer is how it lights up now. I swapped out the fragile glass shelves for sturdier, wood ones. The light at the top inside illuminates the top first shelf and that's it. Makes sense since the light would normally shine through the glass shelves and light up the whole cabinet. I knew this would happen but I really need it to be strong and functional. Maybe someday I can figure out a way to rework the lighting.

China Cabinet Update

Shabby Chic Cabinet, a photo by Heather Says on Flickr.

Here she is! Almost done. I just have to scrape some paint off the windows.

I picked up some old lace curtains and table runners from Goodwill. After a good wash and tea-stain, I re-purposed them into shelf liners. This is just for now until I find lace I absolutely love.

This is really going to make life so much easier. I've finally got a place to keep all of our old school Star Wars and Indiana Jones fast food collector glasses that are just for show.

I'm also super excited about the storage opportunities in the bottom buffet. We'll probably end up putting board games in the cupboard, dish towels in a drawer and maybe even oddballs like candles and lightbulbs. So we'll see.

Take a look at how the cabinet looked when we first got it.

China Cabinet Makeover Progress

Painting Cabinet, a photo by Heather Says on Flickr.

She's getting there. I had to give her such a good scrub with TSP and sandpaper. See what she looked like before.

I'm painting both pieces fully, in case someday I decide to use them independently. I originally wanted to do something bright and colorful like turqoise, avocado or orange. I did so much googling and pinning.

I finally decided that bright beautiful china cabinets look best when they're filled with plain white dishes. It seems like that's the key to making the dishes and the cabinet both pop. Since my dishes are really colorful, I opted for a light color.

This is an off-white shade called "Summer Morning" by Valspar. It differs from the interior wall paint (a sandy tan color) and trim (glossy white) which is also what I was going for.

The shelves were originally glass so I'm replacing them with stronger, wood ones. This cabinet needs to hold a lot of everyday dishes and we'll be going in and out of it frequently, so the glass shelves are outta here. Actually I'm hanging onto them for future crafting inspiration. Who knows.

New Old China Cabinet

China Cabinet Before, a photo by Heather Says on Flickr.

My husband and I went out for dinner for Valentine's day. Afterwords, we checked out this giant Antique store. And by giant I mean, probably used to be a grocery store and is two stories now thanks to old high ceilings. It took hours to explore and we didn't even see everything.

Since moving into our new house in December, I have been on the lookout for a hot china cabinet. Our new kitchen is so much smaller and we're really hurting when it comes to cabinet space. So many of my beautiful dishes aren't even unpacked yet because I have nowhere to put them.

I scoured Facebook and Craigslist looking for a good deal. Everyone beat me to pretty items that were already refinished and dolled up or the cheap finds that needed some love. The antique store wasn't fruitful either. The ones I loved weren't as functional as I needed. The had flimsy shelves or front glass panels had been replaced with chicken wire. Shelves are easy to swap out, but I didn't want to pay $300 for an item that I would still end up putting time and money into. Either it was perfect as is for $300 or I had to find a cheap one and do all the work myself.

After dinner I saw a post on my local Facebook yard sale page and this beast was $50. I jumped on it and paid a little extra to have the nice people deliver it since this wouldn't ever fit in our Sonata.

She is rough. Two drawers broke when they were bringing it in the house, but they just came unglued at the dovetailing, so it'll be a quick fix with some wood glue and clamps. It might be hard to tell in this pic, but it's almost like the hutch and the buffet are different colors or even mix-matched. Although the scroll work on both pieces matches so maybe not. She is also covered in dust and dirt like she's been outside. It's okay. She's going to get lots of love and a pretty makeover. Just wait for what I have planned.