~reno 101: what's old is new again...

In the process of figuring out what projects would be included in our renovations, I decided to refinish the only china cabinet I have ever owned, which was a "hand-me-down" from my sweet momma many years ago.  This cabinet was purchased as a used cabinet by my parents when I was just a young 'un & I wondered if I should just ditch it & go find a new/different unit.  But, my sentimental streak for vintage & family-owned things kicked in; meaning the old cabinet would NOT be tossed out!  I remember my momma refinishing this cupboard way back when, and the hubs also refinished it almost 20 years ago.  However, it was in serious need of a renewal once again. We decided I would redo the cabinet to match the pantry door that we painted & antiqued last summer.  In some ways it seemed a shame to paint an old wood cupboard, but its time had definitely come.


Here is a photo of Miss A.S. in front of the cabinet 5 years ago...

...which shows how the cabinet was stained a light reddish stain, with a clear, matte top coat.  You can see in the lower right corner of the photo how the drawer is not sitting right in the frame.  One side of the drawer had broken at some point in its use/history, which meant the drawer had not been sliding squarely into the opening for a long time.  So, I took the drawer to the trusty, local furniture repair shop & voila, after a fix of the broken piece & an adjustment to the framining underneath, it now closes properly & sits nice & flush!

When the weather started warming up in April, BooBoo was over one Saturday kindly helping with reno stuff & so we hauled the cabinet out of the basement into the garage & started in on her transformation - this is what it looked like before we took it all apart.

Here it is with the back & doors off, the shelves out & when we were about to remove the old finish & sand down to prep for the new finish. Can you see how the drawer is taped together - that is where the side had been broken. 

By the end of that day, we had 3 coats of red paint on the outside & one coat inside.  However, as you will see in the following photos, I ended up painting the inside light beige, so it would not be so dark.

In this photo, the cabinet was still out in the garage, but had been antiqued (ebony stain applied on top of the red paint & wiped off except in the crevices, followed by a protective clear, matte top coat on top of the stain), put back together (except for new knobs that I had bought for the glass doors on top). 

This shot shows off the interior. The original back had had holes cut into it quite a few years ago, to accomodate wires when we used the cabinet to store our stereo equipment in for a short period of time. Also, the original shelves were all warped from the weight of dishes sitting on them for many years. So, I took the original materials to the lumber store, and had a guy there help me pick out new backing & shelving materials. Then, the hubs kindly helped me use the table saw to cut new pieces to size ~ that was my first time using the power saw, so that was a fun experience! I also installed a neat little LED light that I bought from Ikea, in the upper shelf, to show off the china I have! 

And here she is back in the kitchen, full of precious dishes, nic nacs & linens (many of which belonged to my mom & grandmother, or the hubs' mother).  I love it refinished & am really happy that I decided to paint & antique it!  The total cost of refurbishing this unit was about $125 (including repairing the drawer, the materials for new wood shelves & backing, paint, stain, light & knobs).

The next series of photos, show the transformation of what became the mirror in our new downstairs bathroom....

This is what the piece looked like when I found it in a dark basement corner at the antique store.  I asked the gal who owns the store, if it was with a dresser & she said, "no, that is all there is." I suspect she initially thought I was sad there was no dresser to go with it, but  I was very happy that I did not have to purchase a dresser in order to get such a funky mirror frame!  Originally, I thought I would just use the middle part of the frame, but when I got it home & mearsured it for the space, we realized if we cut off the bottom of the harp-shaped supporting "rack," we could keep that part of the unit too.  We also moved the mirror farther down into the rack when we put it all back together. 

I loved the molding detail on the top of the frame, so I painted the frame part, so I could antique it & have that detail really stand out.

Here is the finished/renewed piece hanging on the bathroom wall, after taking the frame to the glass shop & having them add a mirror. The total cost of this project was less than $25!  It would have been more, but I already had a piece of mirror that just needed to be cut to size & the glass shop charged me $0 for doing that, which I thought was pretty cool; yeah, for a great glass shop!