This china cabinet belonged to my grandmother. She filled it with knicknacks, wedding favors, photos, and trinkets from around the world. As a child, I loved peering through the glass at all her keepsakes–it was a magical little window. This is such a special piece, and I’m grateful to have it in my home. In true Magnolia Lane fashion, I changed the color and choose to repurpose it. After a few coats of Anne Sloan chalk paint, my grandmother’s china cabinet has been transformed to a vintage crafting closet.
I choose two different shades of Annie Sloan chalk paint for this project. Staying true to my black and white style, I choose Annie Sloan Pure White and Annie Sloan Graphite. I was really curious to see how the Graphite would turn out because I hope to use chalk paint on my stair railings. I need to coat the current oak railings with some black paint, and chalk paint seems to be the path of least resistance :). I’m still not sure if the Graphite is the right shade for my railings, but I really love the graphite for the interior of this cabinet.
My grandmother’s china cabinet has a lot of detail. The decorative paneling and ornate legs really make it special. The chalk paint went on beautifully, it filled all the nooks and crannies although sanding took a bit of time. The one issue I ran into was that this cabinet is very old (1920’s- ish) so the original dark brown stain kept bleeding through the white. I painted 3 coats but nothing seemed to help. In the end, I still love the outcome but have since spoken to my Annie Sloan expert and she shared a good tip. If you have furniture that was built in the early 1900’s, you should do a coat of clear shellac to seal in the stain prior to painting it. That will prevent the color from bleeding through.
Here is the finished product. I am still working on my craft/laundry room so that is why these photos are so bare. We are planning to turn our master bedroom sitting area into a functional laundry/craft room. We hope to begin construction this spring- YAY!! I am so excited to have a work space for all my sewing equipment and to have my laundry room UPSTAIRS!!! In the meantime, my grandmother’s china cabinet is storing all my fabric and future sewing projects. In the bottom drawer I am storing all my wrapping paper, gift bags and ribbon.
Thanks for stopping by~
