Antique Cabinet redux

I spotted this cabinet several years at my son's friends house. I loved it at first site and asked him if he might be interested in parting with it. About two months ago it arrived at my home.

I've tried to research what time period it may have come from with no success. If anyone can help me out, please comment below and let me know what you think.

I know, I know......if I brought this to The Antiques Roadshow, the Keno brothers would ream me out for stripping this thing, but I really wanted it showcased in my house, in a room and in a spot where I can admire it.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived here:

If you have ever stripped furniture, then you know how time consuming it can be. I worked on this thing for at least a month, putting in about an hour or so a day. It's sort of tedious work, so I limited myself so I didn't get bored with the project.

Below you can actually see the original piece (cabinet door) and a stripped door. What a difference, right?

The process started with a chemical stripper which stayed on for 15-20 minutes until the finish bubbled. I used a scraper to assist with the removal of what appeared to be years of wax, stain and whatever else. I used a toothbrush for the carved parts.

Next, sanding, sanding and more sanding. First with medium sandpaper and then changing over to fine. It was pretty darn smooth when it was finished.

One coat of cherry stain and then on to the polyurethane. Three coats, sanding in between each coat.

I cleaned up all the original brass work as well.

This is how it looks now.

Lots of work, but well worth it in the end.

I'm not sure if this is the best photo of the completed cabinet.....

It really looks much better in person.

Christy

01 02 12

Creative Canisters

I've been looking around for some inexpensive jars to store cotton balls and Q-tips in. Ya think that's easy? I thought it would be too. Not only is the selection limited, but the actual jars aren't cheap. So if I need something that will match the bathroom and won't cost me a lot of money, then I have to make them myself. That's what I did!

I purchased these plain, glass canisters in Walmart. I paid about 3 bucks for both. They each have a rubber gasket on the inside of the lid. I removed them so they can be opened easily. I guess they were put into there for food storage.

So you get the idea, right. Plain, inexpensive and functional.

Now the trick is to make them look a little more unusual or creative.

I found these two wood disks in the craft store in the clearance aisle-about $1.25 a piece. I've used these before and I love the way they look when they are painted.

So my idea is to paint the disk with some acrylics (that way they will match the room), add a knob to the top and glue them to each canister.

Here is the top, painted. Basically, it's painting the wood with a small brush-easy enough. I added the ball to the top and screwed through the wood disk. The dots on the knob are made by using the tip of a paintbrush handle. (yes, I got this idea when my daughter had her toenails painted with dots-that's how they did it and they came out perfect).

I glued the wood disks to the glass tops using clear Silicone adhesive. This works well for me and I've used it before. It goes on white but dries to a clear finish in 7 days. Not that anyone will look at the bottom, but just in case-they look good.

Since they're going into a "teens" bathroom I've painted them with that in mind.

Below is one of them all finished. By the way, I sprayed several coats of Krylon's Triple Thick Glaze on these tops before they were glued onto the glass. This product, which I love, gives everything a "glass" finish. Interested in using it, click here for more information. You really can't appreciate how glossy the top is from the photo. You can take my word for it though, it really makes things shine.

Both pictured below. Notice one canister is larger than the other? That means that one top is larger than the other. I wondered about this while coming up with the idea and how it may look, but in the end they came out looking just fine. The total cost= around 7 bucks.

Chris

01 02 12

Goodwill Find

I haven't been thrift store shopping for a while.....a long while. Maybe the winter did me in or maybe it's just that I'm running out of room. Perhaps it's time for a garage sale. A very large garage sale! Temptation got the best of me last week and I took a ride, just to look, of course. To be truthful, I always find something that I feel the need to buy so I can paint it, fix it or play around with it. This piece was no exception-but what is it? What was it? No idea.

Cost $2.00

Condition-OK

Needs a paint job and some embellishing.

and.........maybe it could hold some extra toilet paper rolls in the bathroom.

I'll take it.

I forgot to take "before" pics-sorry, it just slipped my mind. I sprayed this piece with Rustoleum and it already started to look better. I picked a light beige. It matches everything and gives me a good base for the color painting.

I then used some acrylic paints to paint the flowers.

In this photo you can see some of the paint I used to brighten up the flowers. I added more detail later and also painted the leaves.

Below some more detail is added to the flowers.

Here is the completed job.

I added some black detailing to the flowers and leaves.

2-3 coats of clear spray to keep it from chipping. You know, for 2 bucks and a little work it gets a second life and becomes functional. I like that!

Chris

01 02 12