Furniture Makeover : Sewing Machine Cabinet

I first showed you this sewing cabinet here.

Which I was seriously SO excited about getting.  I really really want to learn how to sew, so now I can!  First though, this cabinet needed a makeover.  Not that she wasn't beautiful in her own right, she just wasn't...my style.  She had lots of potential though!

Here's how I made her over:

I took off all of the hardware and gave her a good sanding with my 100 grit sandpaper.  I just wanted to get rid of the gloss / shine so the new paint would stick.  I actually wound up removing the doors too.

I painted Kilz white primer all over her.  Immediately, I regretted doing the inside.  This just wound up being a lot more work for mainly me to see.  It's definitely not a necessary step...she would've looked fine with her wood look on the inside.  Oh well...she's now beautiful on the outside AND the inside!

This is going in the daybed room, so I took one of the pillows down to Home Depot to try to match up the blue / turquoise color in it.  I wound up with BEHR's Aquatic Blue as my match.  I got the paint and primer in one although I had already primed.  Hey, an extra coat of anything helps...and I need all of the easy freebie help I can get!

I applied a really thin first coat with a foam brush (results shown above), and then applied a second coat with my Purdy brand paint brush (the best!).  And then I did the big test of holding the pillow up to my new paint job...

It matched!!  Whew!  I was super nervous about going that bright with a piece of furniture, but I wanted it to be fun!

Next, I gave her some good 'ol Kara lovin' with the 60 grit sandpaper.

Are you starting to see her potential yet?!  Just a little more lovin to go!  I applied Ralph Lauren Glaze in Smoke on the entire piece, concentrating on the edges and nooks and crannies.

That part actually made me really nervous.  You're essentially dirtying up your freshly painted furniture piece, but I do love the end result!  Wipe on, wipe off.  I hear the Karate Kid in my head...

The next step was to do something about that gold / brass hardware.  I actually tried to buy new hardware, but nothing looked right, so I wound up sticking with the original and just giving it a makeover.

I cleaned all of the old hardware with warm soapy water, sanded it, and then spray painted it with Rust-oleum's Metallic rubbed bronze spray paint.

Hint:  To spray paint the top of screw heads, put them in some Styrofoam, like this:

I put a few coats of the Min-wax water-based Polycrylic Protective Finish in Clear Semi Gloss. I normally use the oil based Minwax Polyurethane in the clear finish, but it does leave a little bit of a yellow tint on latex painted furniture.  Stained wood, it's good, but for paint, the water based actually works better in my opinion.  I actually figured this out by checking out Young House Love's website and their how-to on painting furniture when my top sealer didn't come out the way I wanted it to.  No worries though if this is the case, it's easy enough to just take 220 grit sandpaper and sand off the top layer and re-apply!

After that, I screwed on the old hardware and wala!

I cheated on the inside and only painted the one thin coat with the foam brush.  Once I get her belongings put back inside, you'll never be able to tell!  She looks more...rustic and well loved this way.

And here she is in her new home.

Ignore the unmade bed, and otherwise empty room.  It's a work in progress, from my daybed to my painted floors, and now this...I'm getting there! 

Now...how much MORE fun does learning how to sew look like in my new creation?!  I can't wait...Erin, I'm ready for my lessons!