My tall cabinet, now much lighter in color, better shows off its interesting details. Recently, I swapped out the china inside for all-white dishes and like that look better.
The tall cabinet before its re-do didn't harmonize with my Paris apartment/French country/ shabby-chic decor
This medium-oak cabinet is an interesting piece of furniture. It's a china cabinet above and pantry below. In the sides of the bottom cupboard are screened holes, making it an ideal place to store potatoes, onions and canned goods. It also has some interesting details that were mostly lost due to its dark color.
I also wanted to add some shabby-chic/French country styling.
Gray paint left over from my Paris apartment bathroom re-do - Paris apartment bathroom re-do - and white primer seemed a great place to start.
Dusted and wiped down with hardware removed, I've dry-brushed on the white primer...and scared myself! What if it doesn't turn out the way I'd hoped?
My next step after priming was to dry brush on the gray paint. From there I dibbed and dabbed, alternating between primer and gray until I got the coverage and look I was going for. However, while I liked the paint technique, it seemed to lack depth. It looked two-dimensional and didn't have the gracefully aged look I wanted. Hmmm...
Then I remembered I'd had the same problem when I'd done some other decorating projects, such as my fireplace mantle - Ship's beam Fireplace mantle. For the mantle project I'd rubbed on and wiped away Min-Wax golden oak penetrating stain to give a look of depth and age. This worked well for the tall cabinet. Now it had the look and feel I'd planned!
A serrated knife and some medium-course sandpaper was used to further "age" the cabinet
After finishing this project, I had fun swapping out and rearranging the dishes inside and stuff on top of it. Below are some photos that show some of the cabinet's now more visible details.
It was my mom's idea to replace the china inside with my white kitchen dishes. I like the white-in-gray look!
The lighter gray-white better reveals some of the carved details
A tassle from my sewing supplies finishes off a rather plain knob nicely
The upper cabinet detailing is now more noticeable
Screened holes in both sides make it good place to store potatoes and onions
This project cost me nothing in supplies because I used paint, stuff, and tools I already had. I did spend some time - about three days from start to finish. It's a large piece and took awhile to get the paint technique applied from top to bottom the way I wanted it. I'm very happy with the results of this project!
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