Up-Cycled Utility Cabinet

This has been one of my favorite, yet the longest re-do to date! I started this project, ohhh maybe back in November, but maybe before... and I have just now finished it! :)

This project has been a definite labor of love from start to re-finish :) This cabinet lived at my grandparents' house and at my great-grandparents' house before that. My G'mama and Mama can recall it sitting on the porch of their grandparents' (my great-grandparents') house holding oil and other utilities.

While cleaning out the "old girl" one day, Mama came across it and knew I would want it. We packed it up and brought it home and started work on it. I knew I wanted to stain it with a new "vinegar" stain the Hubster found online. We knew the only way we could stain it was if the cabinet was actually somewhat of a good quality wood. The only way we would know this was to start sanding...

Cabinet Before

Cabinet before in all it's gross-ness.

Cabinet after! Housing some of my favorite pretty things.

Another after photo!

This project would be only the second time I had ever used a palm sander and really put my sanding skills to the test. This was a learning experience to say the least. I was almost certain this cabinet was loaded with lead paint (no pun intended) so I geared up accordingly. I took borrowed some masks and gloves from work and got after it. I don't know who was more excited to finally get a peek of the wood, me or the Hubster. We were almost fighting over who got to sand first!

Once we started to sand the cabinet, the beautiful grain of the wood was very apparent and we knew immediately that we had made the right choice to sand it down then stain it.

As you can see in the above pictures, the cabinet was a lovely (not) blue with many layers of dirt, oil, paint thinner, and grunge. I took the cabinet apart (took the door off) and got right down to it. Once I started sanding it, I realized not only did I have to sand through grit and grime and blue paint, there were another three layers THREE layers of paint under the blue paint (light brown, khaki and black).

It took quite some time to sand down the cabinet. We made sure all the outside edges of the cabinet were well-sanded. We knew that we would not be able to really get the sander into all the nooks and crannies of the inside of the cabinet, so we decided to rough it up a bit with some plain ole sand paper then paint it.

I picked out a pretty shade of cream from Lowes. While there, we also picked up some cheap bead board and painted it the same color as the inside of the cabinet. The back of the cabinet was just some cheap particle board, so we knew we would have to replace it from years of water and other damage. We knew bead board would give the cabinet the perfect cottage look we were going for.

Here is a terrible iPhone picture of the cabinet inside painted and the bead board installed. Forgive the quality please. Hopefully one day (SOON) I will have a DSLR! :) Hint Hint, Hubster, if you're reading this :)

I made the wood "stain" by getting a mason jar and putting a piece of steel wool inside and filling the jar up with white vinegar. I let the stain "marinade" as we say in South LA for a few days until it was the color that I wanted it. I seriously just waited until it was a beautiful brown-ish-red-ish color then started sanding away.

Here is the vinegar before I started staining the cabinet.

Here is the cabinet with one coat of stain.

In this picture, you can see the difference in color from the freshly-sanded cabinet and the cabinet when I started to stain it. I just love the grey-brown stain on this cabinet so so so much.

Here is another terrible iPhone picture, but you can see the beautiful contrast between the inside of the cabinet and the stained exterior.

Here is the cabinet all stained, painted and sitting pretty in our breakfast nook of our kitchen. It was so cute with all my pretty little white bejumes, even without the door. Also, before I put anything in the cabinet, I used some glossy polyurethane to give the entire thing 3-4 good coats. I let this dry before bringing the cabinet inside and/or putting anything on the shelves.

It sat here all beautiful for a few months, before I decided to actually sand the door and get down to business with completing the project. Hubster cut out the inside part of the cabinet so we could put plexi-glass in it's place to give the cabinet the open-look I was going for. 

Then I used the same staining method described above to stain the outside and paint the inside of the door.

Here is the door after 4 coats of stain, but before I used the poly.

Here is the cabinet door after 3 poly coats. Can you see the difference or what? Even though the poly was a glossy finish, it did not make the cabinet glossy at all. This is exactly how I wanted it to look.

While I was out shopping with my Sis this weekend, Hubster went to Lowes and got plexi-glass cut to fit both "windows" of the cabinet. He also caulked the plexi-glass in and used some little brackets to support the door since we removed the middle section.

Close-up of the caulked plexi-glass and brackets.

Side note, you can also see my adorable shelf in this picture :)

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the finished product! Please excuse all the pictures, but I was very excited and impressed as to how it turned out.

Detail of the hardware. We kept the original hardware on the cabinet.

Close-up of my little bejumes!! This cabinet holds special things people have given me or I have inherited over the years. I love adding special elements to the cabinet as I go. (Just FYI, there is nothing red in the cabinet, that is just a reflection in case you were wondering :))

Close up of the original hinge.

Another close-up.

Top Shelf: white plate from Good Will, sugar and creamer set from our everyday china from Pottery Barn, and uber-cute fork and spoon easel from Mrs. Jenn

Second Shelf: Oil and Vinegar carafes from Pottery Barn and pretty little cup Mama gave me this Christmas

Third Shelf: two vases and a creamer dispenser from Grandma O'Meara and Mama's favorite coffee cup as a child with saucer

Fourth Shelf: Garlic holder from Pottery Barn and a coffee mug from our everyday china with some silverware and wooden spoons.

Fifth Shelf: Salt and Pepper shakers from our everyday china and  2 white mini colanders from Home Goods

Bottom Shelf: Cook books I have collected and/or have been given over the years.

I am so happy to finally have this completed piece in our home. I think it completes our sweet breakfast nook and makes the space so much more cozy!