Just A Little Old Jewelry Cabinet

Renee Seeling
by Renee Seeling
I had this little swing out, four drawer, jewelry box for years! Can't even remember where I found it now. Was in nice shape, light wood etched glass on the doors and cute hardware on the drawers.
It was just "boring". So....out came the drawers....out came the sand paper and primer and I went to work.
Since the inside of the one compartment had fabric on it, I taped it off so it would not get painted with the rest of the cabinet. Wrapping that foil around the hooks was FUN.....yeah...right.....a pain in the wazoo!!!!
I put foil in the drawers too since they also had a nice grey fabric in them. First coat of shiny Apple Red paint! Yeah...I know it's bright but....just wait.
The next coat is Nutmeg. LOVE this color...soft, creamy beige....great for this piece. I kind of left the red showing on the tops of the drawers since I was sanding them afterwards anyways. Thought it would give them move "pow" when they were done. Next came the doors for the hanging section.
I removed the glass panels in them. They got a "mirror glass" treatment. WOW!!! They turned out so cool!!! I need to do that more!! So....Apple Red paint on the doors, mirror effect on the etched glass panels from the doors....even painted the button pull on the door. It was GLUED in so tight, I was afraid it would break off if I tried to get it off so....it was painted.
Next came the Nutmeg. Gave the doors a light coating just like I did with the body of the cabinet. Was coming together nice!!!
Here are the two doors and the drawers after the Nutmeg paint job. Next was to get the cabinet painted. I forgot to take a pic of it when it was red.
So....Apple Red base coat....Nutmeg over-coat. Started sanding the edges just a little. So far....am very happy with it. Next was to sand them all down.
Here are the four drawers after they were sanded. I love how just a little bit of the red peeks through. Got a little over-spray on the insides of them but....not too bad. I'm not all "that" fussy.
This is the front door of the cabinet....all painted and sanded. LOVE....LOVE..... I did a light sanding at this point on the button pull on the door. Not quite where I want it yet. Was that metal to show through. Not a fancy metal, no brass or anything like that but, nice. It just needs a tad more "shine" to it.
I then put the drawer pulls back on. You can see what they look like....the button on the door "was" the same....just could not get it off to save it from paint. In hindsight...I could have taken my trusty foil paper and wrapped but....as has been sight....hindsight is 20/20. Oh well....NEXT time....foil.
I'm going to take a few steps back and show you the glass to the doors after I painted it with the mirror paint. Still wet in this pic. Was easy to do...just clean the glass, let it dry and spray it with a mirror finish spray paint. I got mine from Home Depot. LOVE my Home Depot!!! As it was drying, it took a piece of paper towel and dabbed spots on the wet paint. Gave it kind of a mercury glass effect but with the etching that was already on the glass, it didn't show up as well as I had hoped. Oh well...it's a learning curve.....and I'm still stuck in the "pass".
This is the glass after it dried. Not bad. Next was to put it all back together. Those little screws that held in this glass were TINY!!! But...it was worth it!
So....what do you think? I put it in my Etsy shop and it sold within a few days!!! Am making two more now.
I left the wood inside the compartment that nice wood....not sure why but...I did. I guess because the wood surrounding the ring holders was still that same color. I love how the mirror effect came out! Inside and outside of the glass! It reflects the compartment just like a mirror should. Happy me. :)
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  • Jennifer Jennifer on Feb 17, 2015
    My husband bought me a jewelry box very similar to this year's ago. The swinging door is now broken off. I wonder if it would still look okay if I give it a similar makeover.
    • Renee Seeling Renee Seeling on Feb 17, 2015
      @Jennifer I think it would depend on if both doors, if it has two, are broken off and if you can fill the spot where the hinges were. If you can...then go for it. One thing I have learned is that if I never try, I will never know if it works.
  • Marion Nesbitt Marion Nesbitt on Feb 17, 2015
    Big improvement.
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