janky cabinet gets a makeover

My Boo and I headed to Jamesport, Missouri the other day. We both love this little town because aside from being charming, and having friendly folk like back in Texas, we always find treasures. Remember my rocking horse I restored for my grandsons last year? It came from that same place. But this time… a janky cabinet gets a makeover!

I ❤︎ antique hunting!!!

This time around while going our separate ways, I noticed this old cabinet that was covered in dust and piled high with miscellaneous tools. Could’ve easily been overlooked, which was a good thing cause it was meant to come home with me. Right? So it did. I’d been keeping in mind that I wanted something in our entry area that would serve for visitors to place their purses and shoes on while they toured or came for events at our place. And a piece that would also fit in that limited hall space. After measuring and looking over really well- I texted Boo so he could help haul it off. (Hooray for projects!!!)

Brought it home and gave her a good cleaning. (Already looked way better!)

With Boo’s help, we removed the old warped backing off of it to replace with what I hoped would be bead board or tin. (Some people might see this picture and say, “that’s just a piece of crap!” But wait for it!) I see beauty in unexpected and sometimes in things that others can’t.

We also removed the doors which would defeat having something open for people to set their shoes and purses on. Don’t really want them going through doors and cabinets now do we?

Once that was all done, nails removed, holes and cracks filled…I sanded the entire thing before painting it. But I went to the Rusty Nail Antique place in town to ask about some bead board or tin. They had just gotten in some bead board that was the perfect thing I needed. He even delivered it to me that same night!!! (Talk about awesome people!!!)

While I was waiting for the bead board, I started on painting the cabinet. I went with a robin’s egg chalk paint.

Then some distressing.

Once done with painting and distressing, I installed the back (breadboarding). Here are some before and after of the backside.

Much better huh? Here’s a look at the front side.

Pretty huh? And a totally different looking cabinet.

After installing the back, I stained the top portion with a dark stain and applied some poly. After drying out I applied some wax stain for antiquing in certain areas, sealed it and we had a whole new cabinet!

Here are the afters…