One Week from Shabby to Chic

Late last year, I bought this cabinet online:

I have always liked it as it is very old and unusual. If you click on any of the photos, they will enlarge so you can look at the detail.

However, the dark wood didn't suit the rest of our furniture, which is mostly off-white, creams and pale colours. I have said to P many times that we should paint it but somehow, we never got round to it.

However, last weekend when Yeller Fever and his girlfriend went back to the Small Island after a wonderful two-week holiday here, I was at a loose end and wanted something to do. P took me to the DIY store and we picked up a sander, primer and some brushes.

I did a bit of research on how to properly paint furniture and there are loads of steps. The first is to sand, which took P over two hours. He also helped me to tape up the glass frontage so that I could paint the woodwork. I then wiped all the dust off and painted both the cabinet and the two shelves with the first coat of primer:

A couple of days later, I primed it with the second coat:

After a gentle sanding and wiping down the cabinet, I painted the first coat of Farrow and Ball's 'White Tie':


F&B do the best vintage period paint colours. A small tin costs £15, but the finish is amazingly beautiful and tough. You don't even need a sealant or wax.

It looked much better after the second coat went on:

After that dried, it was time to distress the paintwork. Yes with shabby chic, you paint it on just to take it all off again! Or at least sand off certain bits to bring it back to the wood base. This part took absolutely ages and my arms (not to mention neck/back/shoulder) were aching. But P was a real star and helped me again with this bit of hard work.

Here is the finished result:

With all my trinkets, photos and vintage china back in it:

Do I love it? Yes, I do and so does P. It was really hard work and took over 20 man (and woman!) hours, not including purchasing the items or drying time. However, we now have a cabinet that is completely unique. It was really nice to do something together and have a wonderful new piece of furniture (and not to mention a ginormous blister on my thumb) to show for it.

Will we do it again? I'm not sure but now that we have the sander and the know how, it seems a waste not to!