Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Build Your Own- China Cabinet

For those of you who wandered over from some dark stretch of google, hoping to build an entire china cabinet from scratch: This post is not the one you seek.
Go back goooooo bbbaaaaaaaccckkkkkk.

      For the rest of you- who know I lack the skill, smarts, and ability to handle power tools without fear of instant death- to build a china cabinet from scratch, here's the next best thing! I spotted this piece and its twin sister buffet (stay tuned for the next post) on craigslist last week.

Things I have no business doing when I'm drowning under a custom workload that would make the Titanic's iceberg shy away
1. BUYING MORE FURNITURE
2. Probably drinking this much wine (don't you judge me!!!)
But since I have the self control of the blueberry girl at the Wonka Factory, more furniture it is! I emailed this guy as soon as I saw these two pieces. $50 a pop! How could I say no! (the answer is I can't. Saying 'No!' being one of my "areas for growth and improvement" see: titanic sized workload).

Now, these weren't the standard fare furniture I generally zip through, or plod through. These had been man-handled. Handled by a very nice and well meaning man, but handle them he did, as did his gallon of witch's brew stripper. He'd intended to strip and sand them entirely, and I suppose re-stain them. That's a tall task and no shortcuts, so I can't blame the fellow for tapping out and posting them on CL. He'd made my work easier in some ways- the glass was out of the doors of the china cabinet. And trickier in many other ways - the doors were off of the cabinet as well, and the frets, the backboard, the base of the top, ...the top entirely. To his credit, he had kept EVERY. SINGLE. SCREW. So it really was like a kit from ikea, except I didn't lose the allen wrench after step one, and then get drunk and try to finish it with dry wall screws and elmer's glue. Ikea deserves nothing better, though.
        I had a really nice time putting this old gal back together, Previous Owner Guy had done neat and tidy work, and I blessed his name (Dick) every time I found exactly the right hinge or screw in the coffee can in which he'd stored everything from both pieces. 
        A client snatched the piece up straight away for custom refinishing, and we went with Benjamin Moore's Palladian Blue for the exterior and Seapearl for the interior. 10/10 GREAT color choices. We kept the original hardware and whizbang- a stunning china cabinet fully assembled and ready for use once more~





No comments:

Post a Comment