Let's finally talk about my French china cabinet, isn't it pretty?!
Read on to learn all about this thrifting find:
If you remember, I used to have this white and natural baking cabinet at one end of the kitchen. I called this piece my baker's cabinet because it's where I kept my cupcake collection and cake pans, but it is actually a microwave stand.
(You can click here to see more)
This cabinet was a hand-me-down when we moved in and I liked it because it had glass doors and featured the white and natural wood combination. It did have several flaws; crooked doors, a drawer front that had been glued into place, scratched up and stained backing that had to be covered with contact paper... but I loved it just the same. Why? Because it's the look I'm going for. My eventual dream kitchen will have white cabinetry, light wood butcher block counters and white appliances. I'm all about light, bright and avoiding trends (no stainless steel or granite counters here) in fact, I plan on doing my bathrooms the same way! But anyway, back to the cabinet.....
Husby hated this cabinet, but he agreed that it would work until a better replacement was found. And by 'agree' I mean he said: "Fine, but I'm not moving that cheap piece of crap to our good house, Id rather build you a new one". Which prompted a whole, "Wait, you are planning on building me furniture too?!?!" line of questioning from me. (I knew he intended on building our forever home, but the furniture was a new idea to me. So then of course I was off looking into built-ins, cabinetry and making sketches!) 😁
Again, back to the cabinet.....
So let's go back to late summer/ early fall when I began thrifting. I was in one of the local Good Will stores when I saw this gorgeous china cabinet. But since I was new to the Good Will store, I didn't know that I had to flip the tag over to find the price. I assumed that no price meant that the item had been sold and went on about my business. I couldn't stop thinking about it though, I knew it would look so great painted white and standing in my kitchen!
A few weeks later I was in the Good Will store again and the cabinet was still there. By looking more closely at furniture nearby, I realized that the prices were on the back of the tags. I was excited until I reached the cabinet and saw that the pricing area had been torn off. Again I assumed that the piece had sold and must be waiting on a customer pick-up 😖
A few more weeks passed by and it was time to celebrate our Anniversary. We had an entire day of childcare arranged and were tossing around ideas of how to spend the time when Husby suggested going thrifting! Yayyyyy! We headed to a few different stores and shops before ending up at that very same Good Will.....where the cabinet was still sitting! By now I figured something was up, someone must have torn off the tag and not actually purchased the item. After speaking to the manager we found out that was indeed what happened, and.....drum roll please.... that the cabinet was only $49.99!!!!! I asked Husby what he thought about me painting it white and he was on board, so we brought it home.
Fun Fact: We looked up the cabinet and learned that it is a vintage French china cabinet made by the Bassett company and it's worth a whole lot more than $49.99 😉
Happy Anniversary!
Left: A random mix of milk glass and colorful ceramic.
Right: An organized display with the milk glass separated from the cupcakes.
Once I got the cabinet home and cleaned, I couldn't resist filling it up. First of all, it was just plain fun! Secondly, having the additional shelving space meant that I could finally unleash all of the milk glass I've been collecting.
Do you remember those ivy printed hat boxes that live on top of my kitchen cabinetry? Well they are more than just decor, I also hide stuff in them. Wonderful stuff, like milk glass that I didn't have room to display!
(You can click here to see what I'm talking about)
So I started arranging the cabinet by dispersing my colorful cupcake ceramics throughout and then filling in with the milk glass. I didn't like it but I couldn't figure out why. After a couple of days I finally realized that having the cupcakes all over the place made the cabinet look too busy and unorganized. I emptied the cabinet out and started over, this time keeping the cupcakes to the middle shelf only. When I was done it looked so much better!
Tip: Collecting is fun, but can easily get out of hand once things begin to look cluttered. You can cut down on the mess by grouping similar items together, as evident in the photo on the right.
Here is a better photo that shows the difference that organization can make.
Tip: Ok, so after I spent a half an hour arranging everything into the cabinet, what about when I had to paint it and take everything out again? No problem, I snapped a few photos of each shelf once they were arranged the way that I liked. That way once the cabinet was ready, I was able to look at the photos and get everything back into place quickly.
I use this tip a lot when I do my yearly cleaning as well. Cleaning is enough of a chore all at once, I don't want to stop and have to worry about artistic arrangement at the same time 😉
Painting this cabinet took a lot of time.
First it had to be cleaned and sanded, and then it took three coats of paint. But you know what? I really enjoyed the process. It was actually kind of relaxing. In fact, I think I'm going to tackle the curio cabinet in my living room next 😉
I kept the existing hardware, but freshened it up with a coat of gold paint.
So. Much. Better!
Here you can see the piece all complete and with the milk glass/ cupcakes properly arranged inside. I'm so pleased with how it turned out! Now just imagine if that pantry was painted white as well.....with beige-y walls, white trim, larger creamy tiles laid on the diagonal.....just kidding!
I'll wait on all that until we move 😁
I hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer
© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016
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