Reloved furniture project: Vintage pot cupboard

I wonder if anyone actually remembers this "little" project from a long, long while back? It turned out to be a bit of a bugger of a job, and I lost patience and put it aside. So it sat in the garage under a pile of bike bits, old newspapers and goodness knows what else for quite some time. But finally, a few weeks ago, I dragged it out and decided to get it finished. So, ta-dah.....!!

Just the thing when you need a bit of extra serving space for afternoon tea or dessert.

Pretty blue Toile paper lining for the shelves.

But let's back up a bit.... remember how it started? I warn you, this may hurt your eyes...

Eek!!

Phew, that's better!

It required some serious work to get through the silver leaf and umpteen coats of different coloured paint. Heavy-duty stripper was called into service. Then the sanding began. And more sanding. And yet more sanding. I admitted defeat in the end and decided to prime and paint the body of the cabinet, which meant that I only had to get all the damn paint off the top surface. 

Here's a lovely shot of the paint stripper in progress. Nice.

White, pink, purple, silver.... the horrors inflicted on this poor little cabinet would make you weep.

I originally decided to paint the cabinet charcoal - but I just wasn't happy with the result. Commence sulking and three years of ignoring the piece altogether.

This time around, I painted it antique white. It's not a style that goes with my decor, but I'm going to sell it anyway, so it was a commercial decision: French provincial, shabby, country and Hamptons styles are all very popular and white cabinets with gleaming natural timber tops fit right in with all of those styles. 

It turned out quite well in the end - there are some small defects in the top, but I'm calling them "character". Some walnut stain and a waxed finish has that hardwood glowing.

Hmm, yes, that's better.

One more horrendous flashback: Oh. My. GOD.

I'm pleased with the result - it will make a nice side table, bedside cabinet, drinks cupboard or extra space in the dining room to put your fabulous cake. :)

It'll be listed on eBay next week some time. Fingers crossed somebody loves it and takes it home, after all the work I put into it.

Not dead yet

Wow, it's been a long time. I'm probably talking to myself by now... Well, you know, life gets busy and things slow down on the home front when you've been in your house for a while, so there hasn't been a lot to blog about.

I have a few updates which I do plan to get around to posting. I'm working through a small list of projects at the moment, some of which aren't all that interesting, but there are a couple that I think are worth sharing.

Meanwhile, remember the vintage dressing table I picked up on eBay a while back? I had a plan for that, which involved my eldest son moving out and my turning his room into a guest room/music room/extra storage space. Unfortunately, the moving out part still hasn't happened, so I've had it sitting around since I restored it, not quite sure what to do with it. I love it, but we really don't have the perfect place for it. So I'm reluctantly selling it. :(

It makes a lovely hall table - but we already have one of those.

It's listed on eBay now - the auction ends tomorrow, so if anyone is interested, you might want to hop over there and bid. I'm just saying. :)

I'll be back with some more interesting updates soonish. There's my DIY framed artwork that cost me around $50, when I've seen similar things retailing for $500+. And I'm back working on my pot cupboard, after a couple of years of lost motivation. Stay tuned.