Rustic Shabby Cabinet

Last week, I found this cabinet listed in our local swap shop on Facebook.

Not too pretty,

but it had potential.

This cabinet was originally made as a little washstand,

but the upright pieces had been broken.

The little ledge around the top was held on with sheet rock screws

drilled in at an angle

and left sticking out on all sides by about a quarter inch.

So it was a little sad cabinet,

but

it was made with love.

This is the kind of piece that I think

someone would have made for

their wife, mother, daughter, sister.

Someone put their time and heart into it.

One of the doors isn't quite as wide as the other,

and maybe it's not all perfect,

but we're all learning to imbrace the perfectly imperfect, right?

So after the wood around the top was removed,

I grabbed the sandpaper and gave it a thorough going over,

roughing it up,

taking off the poly,

removing the orangeness of it all.

Next it got kissed with a coat of Heirloom White on the outside

and a "custom" mix of a robin's egg blue.

(By custom, I do mean a mix of four colors that were not quite right for anything,

but blended very nicely with a little luck and lots of  s h a k i n g.)

After the paint was dry,

it was time to beat up the cabinet with a little more sanding.

60 grit sandpaper is my friend.

It makes the work quick and easy.

After all the paint and wood dust was swept away,

(wind gusts at 45mph about blew me away that day)

I mixed up a little glaze and burnt umber acrylic.

With an old cotton cloth,

the glaze was wiped on,

allowed to sit for a minute,

then wiped away,

leaving behind a discoloration in the paint and the exposed wood.

After the paint was well dried,

two coats of wax were buffed into the wood,

into all the little nooks and crannies,

giving it a more finished look.

I think this would be really cute

filled with scrapbooking papers and bits,

fluffy towels and linens,

or loaded with homemade jams & jellies.

Homemade jam sounds wonderful.

Maybe with some cute little covered lids,

but that's for another day.

Here's the before and after photo,

definitely an improvement.