Monday 22 September 2008

A Coat or Two of Paint

When I was a child most people that I knew had one of these cabinets to house the best and more delicate pieces of china and glass. As with all things they eventually fell out of favour and 'storage units' replaced them. These units were usually made from some type of veneered wood and had absolutely no character whatsoever. My mum was no exception to this fashion fad and so the trusty old china cabinet was slung out. A few years ago I found one of these cabinets in an antique shop for a ridiculously low price and promptly bought it. I needed somewhere to house my ever growing collection of bits and pieces that would keep them all reasonably safe from the antics of two cats and a dog with a very large wafty tail.

I bought very fine grade wire wool used by furniture restorers and a can of wax remover. The colour of the wood shone through again and I was quite pleased with it. Earlier this year I decided that the interior needed cheering up so I removed the mirror from the back and painted the inside with this soft duck egg blue. It shows up everything inside to better advantage now and blends with the room too.
I have blogged about this dresser previously but included it again as another example of how even the most tired piece of furniture can be improved with a coat or two of paint.
This is the wallpaper at the back of the cabinet and as you can see it all blends really well.
This print was a bargain from an antiques centre but the frame was in really poor condition. I sanded it down and gave it a couple of coats of a slightly different green to blend in with the colours in the picture.
How easy it is to revitalise things with little more than a can of paint and is an inexpensive alternative to buying new in these cash strapped times.
I am now eying up my kitchen dining table as the next project for my trusty paintbrush. I need to decide the colour I shall use for it so I'm off to study paint charts.
Until next time.
Bye for now.
Sandi x
P.S. The photo below is how the cabinet used to look.