Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet Gets a Farmhouse Makeover!

7 Materials
$30
2 Hours
Easy

While browsing around in one of my favorite local thrift stores, I saw this precious piece of furniture tucked away in the back of the store. Poor thing's leg was broke, so I guess they thought nobody would want her.


I approached the store owner, and told her I was interested in the cabinet. I scored it for $10 bucks. It was so unique. I knew it was vintage, but I had no idea what the cabinet was used for. There were two storage compartments on each end, which were very deep. I had thought maybe it was for an entry way, and the deep compartments were to store umbrellas.


Here she is. The Hubs glued her leg back on for me. That's literally all it took.

Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet Before

I gave her a good cleaning with TSP degreaser This stuff is awesome for removing all the grime and yuck.  


I decided I wanted to keep her for myself and use her in my entryway. I needed a bit of color, so decided to use Dixie Belle Paint in the color Kudzo. The green was bit too bright so I added a touch of Dixie Belle Bunker Hill (blue) and Rebel (yellow) to darken up the green. I wanted a more farmhouse vite. I only painted the entire piece, except the top, with one coat.  


The top was worn and I LOVED the way it looked. I did not want to paint over it. So, I just cleaned it with my TSP and then gave it a nice rub down with Bees Wax.  

Top after the Bees Wax

After allowing my paint to dry for about 4 hours, I heavily distressed the cabinet with 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to keep the vintage feel as much as I could. I found these cute little wooden knobs on Ebay for about $3 bucks each. They sat in my know stash for months because I only had three. I thought they made the perfect touch!  

Wood knob I found on Ebay

She now sits in my entryway right across from my repurposed bookshelf console table with casters (which you can see that transformation on my blog). She fits right in! 

Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet

You can see all my transformations over on my blog at www.christinafayerepurposed.com. Happy Repurposing!

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  • Sarah Hayden Morris Sarah Hayden Morris on Aug 04, 2018

    I love this! I

    have a similar table and want to so

    this! If i

    somt want to mix paints and keep

    it simple, any ideas? Also, how did you repair the leg? Mine has the same issue!

  • Diana Vannoni Diana Vannoni on Aug 26, 2018

    Does it open for leg room and how high is it?

  • Martha Swick Clark Martha Swick Clark on Oct 08, 2018

    I have this exact sewing table but one of the side's top is missing. Any suggestions of what to do? Remove the other one? Use for yarn, magazines, etc. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks.

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