This is another piece from my $1.50 Saturday score the other weekend. Actually, funny story:  I found four dining chairs in front of a house with a free sign, as I started loading up, the gentleman of the house came out and offered me this china cabinet…since Sam was outta town with her truck, I wasn’t sure how to get it home.  Next thing I know, the nice man was telling me to use his truck and that the keys were in the car.  Say what????  Man, the LA chick inside me was reeling!  Not sure that I will ever get used to living in a small town, but I know that I LOVE it!

So, I came back with Sean and we loaded this sucker up in the nice man’s truck (and then promptly returned the truck….’cuz I ain’t ghetto!).  What do you think?  Circa 1990?  A bit of that uber cool white-wash finished, Santa Fe-inspired furniture, right?

Actually, other than the general look of this piece, it was in great shape.  So, we were super excited to get going on doing a glamour makeover for it!

The first step was for Sam and I to remove all the hinges and handles….we were also able to remove the glass door insets and the glass shelves (a super cool move which helped the piece survive the makeover with little taping and absolutely zero breakage!)

Another super cool aspect of this piece was that it separated into two pieces (stacked).  So, we were able to lay the top piece of the cabinet on it’s back, making it easier to sand a 7 foot cabinet (and later we knew that it would let gravity help us in decoupaging the back wall).

As you can see, wood putty and sanding were muy importante!  It looked as if the previous owners had switched out hardware, but didn’t worry about leaving random holes and unsanded wood putty exposed.  Easy to fix!

After a quick all-over sanding, we primed the whole piece using a sponge roller, to cut down on texture (of course, we didn’t bother priming the back wall, since we knew we would decoupage it with fabric).

We decided to paint the exterior teal, and the interior a light cream.  Actually, our inspiration for the piece was our own Heart Cabinet that we designed earlier–figured it sold so quickly that the design was worth repeating! We then finished the whole piece with two coats of tinted furniture wax.  It turned out pretty cool, with the interior looking a bit like wood grain.  Now for the decoupage!

We used oodles of adhesive….you can use Mod Podge, Elmer’s glue, or a homemade recipe…your choice.

The trick is that you have to work quickly, so that the adhesive doesn’t become to dry before you lay down your fabric or paper.

My favorite part is that you don’t have to measure twice and cut once here….just get it straight.  Later, when you have let the piece dry, it is super easy to come in with a razor blade and trim everything up….giving it a polished, professional look.  (BTW this fabric was cut from a giveaway comforter that someone discarded….yay, free yardage!)

Just make sure to smooth everything out, getting rid of any bubbles.  We even had to lift and add more adhesive, cuz the goopier the better.

I actually let it dry overnight before I attacked the edges with a razor blade.  I wanted things to be secure and clean.  Then it was time for a coat of sealer!

Time to attack the bottom half….time for the birds!

I penciled  and then painted on the doors with an olive green paint.  So pretty!

After a couple of coats of dark furniture wax and a gentle sanding, the cabinet is looking BE.U.TEE.FUL!

And I love the large crystal knobs that I found at The Home Depot!

Whatcha’ think?  Zested enough?  This was a super fun piece-not bad for a freebie!  Thanks for checkin’ it out!

~Chanda