Take a chance on me.....

***Update, the photos I promised are now in the blog.

Fake 'leading' on the glass doors.

I recently purchased a maple china cabinet at an auction for - wait for it - $25!

But, what was I going to 'do' with it. (A question my husband had immediately.)

I already have a mid-century china cabinet in my great room that I love. This thing was obviously made somewhere between 1980 and........ 1980. I hated everything about it - the finish, the lines, the glass doors with the fake 'leading' painted on. (If you have one of these in your home and you love it - um..... I can help you paint it.....)

Too small!

I am really in need of some more jewelry storage. The jewelry armoire I bought in 2001 is now way to small for my costume jewelry collection (hey I do theater, I need all that stuff!!) You know the kind of armoire - the one everyone went out and bought at the box stores with the flip open sides and top. Of course I took mine home and immediately painted it black enamel and put Asian Kanji on the sides to go with my Asian themed bedroom I had at the time - but it is now the wrong color, theme and size.

So - why not a jewelry (china) cabinet!?

Need room for everything in the
baskets and shoe boxes - and some
stuff not even in the photo.

Though I had every intention to begin this project on Saturday, I didn't get to it until Sunday afternoon. I had two hours to work on it between other 'events' so I put on my grubbies and got to work. With my husband's help I managed to get all the hardware and doors off, sand it lightly and get a coat of primer on the top part, the 'hutch.'

Make sure you use some type of rag and

wipe your piece down after you sand it.
(This is the sleeve from an old T-shirt
talk about recycling!)If you are
spreading primer on a dirty surface

it won't stick as well.

I don't go crazy with sanding, because I use Kilz as the primer - this stuff is amazing. For this project (since I am working on it in my bedroom) I am using water based Kilz. However, if you can stand the smell the oil based Kilz is the best and will make the paint stick better and last longer. The water-based stuff also dries faster, so if you are working on a timeline that might be good to know.

When I get a little further along in the project I'll update with more photos, tips and of course any problems I encounter (besides the issue that this is in my bedroom and I'm going to have to walk aorund it until I get it finished.)