Relove Furniture
Sewing Cabinet
This old sewing cabinet has been sitting in my shed for about 30 years. It did provide me before that with a place to sew and store my sewing needs, well not all of them but the essentials.
The top is veneer and was damaged, not as bad as that looks but as I was trying to fix it, the veneer kept lifting, so it had to come off.
I used what was the equivalent of Bondo, an automotive body filler.
You get the paste plus the hardener, that’s the little tube sitting on the lid, half hiding 🙂
I have added the video where I learnt how to do it. It is a three part video series by Angela Davis and well worth a watch.
It is a lovely little cabinet, the storage with a drawer, cotton spool holders is very handy and the door opens right back.
The top opens up and you can fit a sewing machine into the opening. It worked with mine very well. The left hand side supports your fabric while you sew and there is ample room to do pinning, tacking etc. The right hand top folds down.
I have seen this style restored and used as a vanity in a bathroom, the opening is ideal to insert a basin.
Well with Angela’s tutorial, this is where I started. I didn’t have an orbital sander like Angela, I had a B&D Mouse sander, did the job but I wouldn’t recommend doing it by hand. I let the bond dry overnight and then I used the mouse with the coarse, then medium and lastly fine sanding pads.
I was a little undecided as to what colour to use. Eventually chose the dark red, Wattyl Murano, which is like a heritage red. I used the calcium carbonate recipe and added the Easy-Flow additive to help as the weather is very hot and humid here in Brisbane right now.
I have the Murano as an accessory colour in small doses throughout my home. So the cabinet is not restricted to one room.
So I have applied two coats of the chalk style paint and I’m feeling like I should do another but I don’t want it to look all ‘brand spanking new’. I used a roller for most of the painting, quicker than a brush in the heat.
Decided to leave it at the two coats…
So now just finished one coat of Cabots water based Cabothane in the clear satin. I have Minwax polyacrylic in the clear satin too but it is lending more to the gloss side of satin which I don’t want.
Now to decide how to finish off. Another coat of the Cabothane and then I want to finish off the top and that panel above the door. I’m opting for ‘ModPodging’ a wrapping paper or a stencil. I have the wrapping paper and yet to choose a stencil.
I also have to finish cleaning up the cotton reel holder, a tiny bit (lot) of rust to get off it…
Be back with the finished cabinet tomorrow or the next day…
There’s been a little interruption and it has been a couple of days but I have completed the sewing cabinet.
I decided to do a stencil on the door and for my first attempt I was very happy with it. So it was on with the top and an attempt at Mod Podge. I had some really great paper but at the last minute decided against it. Hit the shops and found another, which was a red and white check. It had a gloss to it and not sure if that was why but although it went on fine, I found getting the bubbles out, I damaged the paper in a couple of small places. So it was off with the paper and repair the top, get gluey stuff off, sand and paint again.
I’m pleased I did as I’m quite happy with the results. The knob is the original timber so painted it to match the stencil.
Inside, on the door there is the drawer to store sewing accessories plus the cotton spool storage.
Well I’m happy with it and so glad I found chalk style paint because the makeover would have been a lot harder than it was.
The Stencil, for a first attempt, not too bad 🙂
A Furniture Divorce…
In the antique world there are many marriages. Not the husband & wife kind more the pieces of furniture marrying kind. Often times these look well matched, like many human marriages but many times they look like a miss-match.
I have a piece that belongs to my son and I’m looking after it for him. Now this piece I have called a ‘divorce’. We’re not sure where it came from originally but it did have something at one end that had been cut off. It looked like maybe it had been in a store as a showcase as the back is not as old as the rest of it and there are many slots for shelves that can be adjusted.
It’s not an old piece, not a new piece, an in-between. It is rather plain but where I needed to put it, it needed an update, a coat of paint and what better than see how it liked chalk paint.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a ‘before’ photo but the cabinet original was all the same colour as the inside.
Wattyl low sheen water base paint called Midnight Seas is the one I chose to redo this cabinet. I used the cornflour recipe for this one. See below…
I also used this colour on a couple of captain chairs, I’ll post about these later.
As this cabinet was staying on our outdoor area, I used a waterbase polycrylic over the chalk paint, two coats as it will have the outdoor elements to contend with.
This is the finished cabinet, the clear handles are from Ikea and the accessories have all been chalk painted with water base Accent called Aurora Sky. There is a mixture of surfaces there, cane, wicker, terracotta and high gloss pottery.
That’s what I love about using chalk paint, it is the variety of surfaces that it will cover without a problem.
So if you want to repurpose, restore and relove while you redecorate your home then why not give it a try.
Using Cornflour/Cornstarch Recipe
Plastic container that will hold 16oz
Fill container with two cups of water and mark on outside the level and empty
Add 3 Tbsp Cornstarch
Add 1/4 Cup Of Water And Stir
Add Paint To The 2 Cup Line And Stir
I halved the above recipe as I only needed a cup or 250ml of paint.
I was able to paint the cabinet and the two captain chairs so it goes a good way. I really do like this recipe and have used it on many things, the finished product feels lovely and smooth once it is waxed.
The only preparation was to clean down the piece and make sure there was no dust or grit, no sanding, no other prepping. So easy!!!
Shoe Drawers
I seem to be one of those impatient people when I decide I want something especially when I am restoring, changing, repurposing. This happens when I want to redecorate a room or even just give a room a big clean. What I mean by a big clean is – pull all the furniture out and start with windows and walls, need not be repainting just cleaning down. Or maybe I am adding new blinds, who knows, there are many reasons.
Well my shoe storage was under attack and I decided to get a couple of the Ikea shoe drawers. I wanted white but they only had the birch the day I was there. So came home with two birch shoe drawers.
Enter chalk paint —-
Out came the shoe drawers and the chalk paint. This mixture of chalk paint was the secret ingredient recipe. The finish on the drawers is a little like a laminate I think they call it a foil, it is a sheen but not shiny.
So I set to work, gave them two coats. Apart from all the other good things about chalk paint, is that is dries very quickly. With these drawers, by the time I had finished the first coat, I could start on the second. Being such lovely flat surfaces, I used a roller for the second coat.
I like to give the pieces a day or so before I start the buffing.
I used the beeswax and set about protecting my painting.
I like the finish of the chalk paint and wax protection, it has a soft feel, much better than buying the white ones from Ikea.
So you see, you can repurpose, restore and relove anything old or new!!