If you visited us this weekend, you maybe noticed this pretty pair of corner cupboards in our Lake Beautiful area. Well, thought I'd show you how they looked when I picked them up and what I did to transform them.
I found them at the end of a long day of garage saleing up at the cabin, Memorial weekend. I'd already spent my cash, and was really not intending on buying any big pieces of furniture. But, once I opened the well-made doors, and started talking to the lady who really wanted to sell them...
I also remember telling myself, "We always need tall pieces in the store." I've learned that on these cabin garage sale weekends, we better hook up the trailer, because I inevitably find some great finds in these small towns! Mr. Fix-it and I made a special trip back to pick up these old, 50's built-ins.
But...eek...that green needed to go! And those bottom doors...can you get any more boring?
Once home, they all came apart. The hardware went in the crockpot I use to boil off years of paint, and I got to work sanding every surface. Getting a little more close up, I could tell these pieces had seen many years of decorating phases...
I could see a pink-ish color under the white inside, probably from the 50's era. I could also see a yellow inside, maybe from the happy 60's.
I knew I'd have to sand the green, and it would be a challenge to cover that dark color. My choice of paint treatments and color were definitely influenced with what I was dealt with. To cover the green areas, I'd use Vintage Storehouse's chalky paint powder mixed with latex paint. It's a thick coverage and two coats luckily covered the green. I decided taping off the door glass sections was torture. I'd rather scrape the paint off after. If you've ever painted old, divided light windows, you'll understand the torture.
I painted two coats on the outside and the insides, which were still bare wood but had a lot of sloppy paint splatters. I really wanted these pieces to be beautiful on the outside and the inside.
The boring lower doors were jazzed up by Mr. Fix-it. He put a mitered frame of some egg and dart moulding on each door. I then realized something really needed to be in the frame, which led to using some vintage ceiling tin we had leftover in the garage. I sanded some more of the white paint off, to reveal some of the shiny silver, and polyed them to really bring out the beauty.
I decided Miss Mustard Seed's Shutter Grey milk paint would be the perfect frame color on the doors to highlight the silver in the tin. I added a little on the triangles at the top of the glass doors also, to highlight that feature. Some brushed silver, oval knobs worked perfectly on the lower doors. On the upper doors I chose some bubbly, glass orbs with a silver inset, for a watery, lake feel.
I painted the inside back of the cupboards in Miss Mustard Seed's Trophy grey milk paint. It turned out kind of streaky, which I liked compared to the matte outside. Both sides of each of the 8 triangle shelves got sanded and painted in a white latex with the chalky paint powder from Vintage Storehouse. I finished all surfaces with General Finishes wax, and a light buffing with a cloth.
I really love how they turned out, but what a lot of work pieces like these are! They didn't sell over the weekend, so if you're interested, just contact us. I honestly don't mind looking at them a little longer;) They're priced at $399 each.
Wish I would have gotten a picture of them side by side for the before/after pic!
Linking this project up with:
http://missmustardseed.com/2015/07/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link-party-73/
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