New Office Cabinet

Happy Saturday morning!
While I was sitting in the floor painting a cabinet yesterday it hit me....I should just start my blog up again with all my projects along with how to's. I mean...why not? That's how I get my inspiration so might as well share. And with all the upcoming changes to Facebook it is an easy way to share.

If we are friends on Facebook I know you have seen this project already. It really sparked my interest in redoing furniture on a budget. A lot has changed since I posted here in September 2018. My hubby was diagnosed with a secondary cancer - MDS - Myelodysplastic Syndrome - which amazes me that it is listed as rare with only 200,000 cases a year. I beg to differ. This diagnosis was not what we expected and it was an automatic Bone Marrow Transplant, which took place February 8th of this year. Since then we have been taking each day, step by step, in his recovery. Which has been a long one with way too many hiccups. He is currently around day 127 post transplant. We meet with the physician Monday to go over all his latest biopsy results and test results to see where we stand. To keep myself busy I've been diving into redoing the house on a strict budget. Like.....literally as free as possibly! And I've been hitting each room little by little.

This project was specifically for my office/extended craft space (yes I've taken over half the house with crafts). Our floor plan is a pretty open concept which is surprising to me since the house is 20 years old. You can walk a complete circle from the kitchen through the living room right into the office and craft room then back into the kitchen. Just a few walls in between. So when you walk into the front door you land right into my craft room and office. There are no doors that separate them. We have talked about closing them in but I think it would lose so much of its open feeling if we did that. So needless to say both of these rooms need a huge make over so that they are appealing to look at. I've had the same old hutch style desk for about 15 years and just stack stuff in the corner. My cricuts sit in the floor. I have two direct sales companies as well as my Art business so paperwork is everywhere. You get the picture.

I started scoping out Facebook Marketplace for the "perfect" cabinet. Twice I missed out on one. I finally posted what I was looking for on Facebook and my friend Deborah came to the rescue! She offered up this gorgeous washstand that was originally her grandmothers! At first I was a little hesitant to do what I wanted with it....it was old....had a lot of memories....BUT I had a goal in mind and just made sure she didn't mind what I was about to do to it.

Mother's Day weekend was the transformation day. It was HOT...it was HUMID...and was NOT a good day for painting furniture! So make sure when you do a project like this it is not humid because paint just does not like that kind of air! First step was removing all the amazing hardware which has a beautiful patina to it. I was going to paint them black but once I started looking at all the colors from age....they had to stay original. Next....I had to get this coating off this cabinet. It was made with a cherry type stain with a shiny coating. I wanted the top to remain real wood so I sanded and sanded....and sanded....30 minutes later and I had sanded all that junk off the top down to a beautiful and stunning OAK finish! It was gorgeous. I used what stain I had on hand which was Dark Walnut and fixed that top up all nice and pretty! The it was time to paint. For this project I used Behr Chalk Paint from Home Depot. I was in a hurry...wanted to get started on this...and grabbed what I could find. This color is Farmhouse White. I started to sand in some areas but it was just not working out for me so the chalk paint went right over this shinny surface (which I did get all cleaned up by the way...that is super important). This took 2 coats. 

Next step was the Antique Dark Wax from Behr. Using a rag I would add just a little touch of the wax to certain areas of the cabinet and then wipe it back off and smear it in good so that I had it in the cracks. I wanted an aged look to this cabinet. Once I was done with that and everything was nice and dry....I took some sand paper and just went back over areas and started sanding off the paint. You can see these sand spots on the drawers. I know a lot of furniture redos are all nice and crisp paint...no blemishes, etc...but that was not what I was going for. I wanted aged, old and rustic. I fixed the inside with my nail gun. A lot of times in these old pieces the bottom of the cabinet is a thin piece of wood. This one had broken so I just nailed it back into place. Added the original hardware back on it. And my last step was to spray paint it with a clear coat of Rustoleum Clear. Why? Because I am not familiar enough with Behr Chalk paint to know if it would stay or not AND this is going to be used a lot so I wanted to make sure it was going to last. As it set out in the garage drying....in this humidity....it crazed and cracked. At first I was so frustrated but now I love it because it adds another texture and old look to this beautiful cabinet. I mean come on...people buy crackle paint for this....mine was ALL natural!! 

This cabinet has made its home in my office and now holds my rolls of vinyl, unfinished quilting blocks, and a few items from my direct sales companies as well as holds my Cricut Maker, which sets nicely on the top. It fit so perfectly into my cleaned out area and adds so much charm to the room. It has now become my focal piece and inspiration for the office redo. 

Cost of this project:

$30 for the Chalk paint and wax (which have tons left for many more projects)

$90 for the cabinet

Hope you enjoyed this and I look forward to sharing all my repurposing projects and getting this blog started back up again.