Black and Gold Glam Cabinet Makeover

7 Materials
$50
6 Hours
Medium
I have always done a lot of entertaining at home but have never had a proper bar. Which meant I was always digging through cupboards to find my bar supplies when friends were over...and not always finding what I was looking for.

I finally decided to get a fold up bar cabinet that would give me easy access to everything when I needed it, but not take up much room when I didn't. The problem was that all of the cabinets I liked were really expensive.
I ended up going with functional and inexpensive furniture rather than pretty...and it looked like this. It has lots of storage space but definitely doesn't have the glam Hollywood Regency vibe I was going for.


So I decided to do a DIY project to turn it into a black lacquer and gold cabinet like the ones I wanted.
The first step was to remove the doors and drawers...and give everything a good cleaning.
To make it easier to move the bar around to where I need it, I added some wheels to the bottom of it. That's a feature I didn't see on even the most expensive bar cabinets (which is the great thing about doing DIY projects!).
Then all of the pieces were moved outside for some spray painting. (You can find my tips for successful spray painting here).


I painted the inserts on the doors, the inside of the cabinet and the insides of the doors with gold spray paint.
Everything else was painted with a few coats of black lacquer spray paint. This takes a while since more thin coats of paint give a better finish than fewer thicker coats.
I was pretty surprised at how much it actually looks like black lacquer when it's done!
To make the inserts on the front of the doors really shine, I added some gold leaf. This was my first time using gold leaf and I thought it would be really hard to make it look good but it's actually a pretty simple process.
Apply the sheets in layers using gold leaf adhesive and buff lightly with a tissue to remove any bits that aren't stuck. Then repeat until all of the surface is covered. Finally spray with a sealer to add some protection.


Adding some new knobs finished off the front of the cabinet.
Then I put it all back together again and stocked my bar. It hardly looks like the same piece of furniture!
When it's not in use, the cabinet looks nice and fits easily in my hallway.


For more tips on how to do this project, click the link below.
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Wanda @ From House To Home
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  2 questions
  • Valerie jones Valerie jones on Sep 20, 2018

    Regarding lacquer spray, how many coats did you put and how long in between coats did you wait? I’ve been trying to use white lacquer but am having problems!!

  • Val Val on Sep 20, 2018

    Wow, that is unreal gorgeous! Can I come over for drinks, please? I am in awe of this.

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