Convert a China Cabinet to a Linen Cabinet
2 Materials
When we added a second walk-in closet to our master bedroom, we borrowed space from an existing linen closet and from the upstairs hallway. That meant we no longer had a linen closet. Designer Eddie Ross once mentioned that a china cabinet would make a great linen cabinet, and ever since I heard that, I have been on the look-out for a china cabinet that was smaller than normal.
I finally found one in a local consignment shop, and although I thought they were asking too much for it, I went ahead and made the purchase. Since the cabinet was going to be in our upstairs, we had to hire movers to transport the piece from the store to our house. That added to the cost. After a lot of hours spent painting, it now looks like this and provides great storage for our extra towels, toiletries, and bed linens. It fits perfectly in our upstairs hall. What you can't see from this photo is that the center drawer drops down, and it becomes a desk. I think this piece is a combo china cabinet/secretary, and that's why its size is smaller than normal.
The original finish on the cabinet was mahogany,. Although I loved the style, I didn't love the finish as it had lots of dings, dents, and scratches on it. The mahogany finished sure created a problem. My intention was to use pure white chalk paint, but the mahogany bled through even after two coats. The white paint turned pink. I then added two coats of primer and then switched to latex. After many hours of painting, I had the look I wanted.
To make it look more like a linen cabinet and less like a china cabinet, I removed the back and replaced it with bead board. Then I painted the entire interior a soft golden color using chalk paint. It was much easier to paint the interior with the back removed. Plus, I painted the bead board before installing it. Lucky for me, the interior did not bleed, and the soft gold color didn't become another color.
I love the way the interior looks as much as the way the exterior looks. We have also repurposed two other cabinets. One television armoire made a perfect shoe cabinet in our mudroom. Here's the post about it: http://the2seasons.com/2013/08/27/paris-grey-is-in-the-house/ We simply added shelves, and wallpapered the interior. We also turned a beautiful television armoire into a bar but haven't blogged about it yet.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Hillela, my daughter/blog partner did a flea market shopping tour with designer Eddie Ross. (He's a Better Homes and Gardens editor.) He saw a big china cabinet and said it could have a second life as a linen cabinet. She wrote about it on our blog, and when I read that, it was an aha moment for me.
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That is one lovely cabinet!
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