My reply was my link to this blog, so here goes.
Now, if you've been paying attention you know I do things as frugally as possible, and I have huge creativity. My style is rustic, leaning toward shabby chic. ..but I can go just about anywhere when it comes to style. Usually I see something in a piece. I don't know how, I just look at anything and know what it could be instead. Gift or curse, who's to say? I love saving things that would have been trash. ..or worse...relegated to a boring life. Gift for sure.
So, here's today's project. I will post before and after photos.
It began it's life as a boring ,plain, varnished, pine gun cabinet. It had red velveteen inside. Yuck! And the usual rack to hold the barrels of rifles. Nothing to see here, keep moving.
What I saw, were it's lines. The simple, but beautiful edges, grooves and layers of trim that made it humble, yet proud. This was a farmer dressed in his best for church on Sunday.
That's what I saw in this cabinet, and I took it home, to make it mine -- to give that hardworking farmer a reason to sing a bit louder in church.
This was my very first Diy project. I had no idea what I was going to do or how. I knew I needed shelves in it, and that was about all I had for a beginning plan.
I tore everything out of the inside, washed it out well, then measured, cut and put in shelves. Two coats of paint later and the inside was completed.
I then painted the outside, after sanding lightly to scuff the varnish, so paint would stick. I used an acrylic latex satin finish paint. It's water base, no odor and super great on wood, metal, wicker, etc. It costs about $10 a quart and goes a long ways. Two coats, I removed the door at the hinges to paint. Much easier. Any holes I filled with drywall filler. It works fine for this and can be purchased at the dollar stores for a buck. I filled and sanded those before painting.
Once the paint was totally dry, overnight at least, I used 80 grit sandpaper and roughed the edges by hand. Taking off some if the paint in places where it would normally be worn away. Then I sanded over those areas again with 150 grit sandpaper, to smooth some of the lines from the 80 grit. Then I put the door back on.
Using a dry erase marker, draw your design on the OUTSIDE of your windows. Then paint on the inside, following your drawn design. When you're done simply wipe the dry erase marker away!
If you choose you can seal your piece with a water base poly. I like the rustic look so I rarely use poly.
If you don't want to use poly.
You are now done, stand back and admire your work and, as always. .. don't forget to share a photo with me.
Enjoy!
