the new chair; the china cabinet redo

Today is the day! Time for the big reveal.

I bought the chair:
I finished the old china cabinet:
And now they’re both in our house!
I really love how it all turned out.
I bought the cabinet at the thrift shop for $100 and my original thought was to paint the cabinet bright yellow. Something like this.
But I decided it was too loud for this particular room.
White? (like this beautiful redo?)
Too much white on one side of the house.

So I went with a very dark charcoal gray (though it looks black) and it’s really perfect in our space. It ties in with our dark gray couches, black dining chairs, and other accents in the room. And it really let’s the colorful dishes inside shine.
Here’s what I did.
* I removed the old hardware; replaced it with new stuff from Home Depot.
* I buffed it up slightly with a sanding sponge–though it wasn’t really necessary. Sometimes I sand old furniture, sometimes I strip the paint completely, sometimes I just start painting. It really depends on the condition of the furniture and what I plan to do. Our kitchen table was so cracked, with multiple layers of paint that we really had to sand it down. This cabinet however would have taken forever to sand or strip. And since I wasn’t staining it–to show off the nice wood grain–I just painted over the top, no priming.
* I painted by hand with a 1 1/2 inch brush. I go back and forth between brush vs. paint gun. I have both and use both. Read more about it in my Painting 101 post.
* Paint is Behr brand from Home Depot, semi-gloss finish (can’t remember the color…something really dark).
* I did one coat of paint, touched up here and there–no priming.
* I finished off the shelves with a clear wood lacquer. It’s pretty potent to smell (Casey did it for me) but I love how it seals the paint in and keeps it from chipping. It also hardens very quickly.

And that’s about it!

More BEFORE:
AFTER:
And a peek inside:
Our favorite family games. It’ll be much easier to reach these now on a Sunday afternoon.

In the top of the cabinet…..all that stuff I found at the Thrift store this week.
I spray painted the brown owl and love him in white.
Now for that pretty chair I was hiding under a blanket….

Isn’t it lovely?
You can see how I ignored the clearance items at Pier 1 and went straight for this teal velvet beauty. Definitely more than I ever spend on furniture. But $180 seemed pretty decent. And it’s so light! I could lift it by myself.
Oh I love it.
So glad I bought it.
Now I need to decide on the accent color.
I like it with the orange Ikea pillow:
But it would also be cute with something yellow or even fuschia?

I’m kind of drawn to the pink (though I’m not sure what Casey would think). The color ties in with my hot pink pants…which I wore in some pics I had taken with the kids–another thing I need to show you!
Here’s a sneak peek.
I want to get one of the pictures printed and hung next to the cabinet….maybe above the chair.
So, the wall is still a work-in-progress.

Choosing artwork is the hardest part for me.
And I never seem to get these Ork Posters out of mind. Maybe one to the left of the cabinet?
We have the orange Los Angeles print in the room already. So it might be overkill to buy another. But I love those color combos.
Okay.
One project DONE.

Just 89 more to go….
Have a great weekend!

  1. 1) Karrie

    I had to do a double take when I saw this on Pinterest. This is the exact china cabinet we currently have in our dining room. (The before). It belonged to my husband’s grandmother and is special to us both but is very dated and needs a makeover. Thanks for inspiring us.

  2. 2) Kate-Virginia

    I absolutely love this! I just found a delicious china cabinet for $25.00 from Goodwill (trying to haul it home in my car while driving 5mph was another). I’ve updated it some, but the color was off! You’re piece is an awesome inspiration!

  3. 3) lorena

    I like the before better :S real wood instead of black

    • 4) catnmouse614

      My grandmother agrees with you lorena

  4. 5) Cara

    What a beautiful cabinet. Curvy and sleek. I like it black šŸ™‚

  5. I really enjoyed looking at your projects! Thank it is inspiring.

  6. 7) Dee

    Very nice! Any chance you still have the hardware??? The ones on the side cabinets? I have one very similar that needs 2 of those…

  7. 8) christine

    Kicking myself now – just moved and left a china cabinet like that one behind; I felt so done with it! Love the makeover idea!!!

  8. 9) Tanya

    Thank you so much for sharing. I have a shoestring decorating budget because we just finished remodeling a bathroom and addition. I have a table and china cabinet from the 80s. They are Dutch in style, but I am ready to attempt painting them after seeing your results. =)

  9. 10) Terry

    Was looking for ideals to change china cabinet to a DVD stand what you done is wonderful LOVE it love the dark rich color Thanks for the ideal. This could work..
    If you have any ideals send them to me I need help

  10. 11) BETY STUTES

    OMG, MY CABINET LOOKS LIKE YOUR BEFORE PICTURE,
    THANKS FOR ADVISE.

  11. 12) Karen Thompson

    how did you paint this beautiful black with a brush and it looks so smooth? I want to paint and have this finish with no brush strokes!

  12. 13) Sandra r

    i have the same China closet from the same era only thing is that it has 4 drawers and 2 doors on each side paid 150.00 for the complete set. And my wife saw your web site and we love it we are doing the same I repair furniture and guitars it’s my hobby thank you very kindly love your ideals.willie and Sandra. Philadelphia.

  13. 14) Nadine

    Hi, Love your Cabinet been wanting to paint my dinning set. You just put Lacquer on the the shelves
    I am going to try painting now, Thanks

  14. 15) Mary

    Our China cabinet looks so similar to the before picture and I so badly want to repaint it! I love this color, but I know know you said you can’t remember the color. Do you have an idea of what I can look for that is or is similar to the after picture? Thanks! šŸ™‚

  15. 16) Lauren

    I recently bought the same china cabinet from someone to re-do and put in my new house! When I bought it I didn’t realize there was only one door and the shelves were not removable. How difficult was it to re-do your china cabinet?

Leave a Comment