Updating a Thrift Store Find With Turquoise Paint and White Glaze

6 Materials
$10
1 Day
Medium
I found this cute little cabinet at Goodwill a few years ago. I'm not really sure what it was originally... maybe a cabinet for doll clothes? It looked handmade. I liked the detail but not the color so I decided to paint it and try out some white glaze on it. Sign up for my email newsletter to get new upcycled and DIY projects twice a week!
First, I removed the hardware and taped over the mirrors. When possible, I remove the mirrors before painting but these were glued in. I didn’t want to take the chance of breaking them to get them out. Any paint that gets on them can easily be scraped off with a knife-edge.


Then I started slapping on paint with a palette knife. No rhyme or reason, just wherever I felt like adding paint. Some of those grooves were a little tricky to get the paint into. But I really did the whole piece without using a brush!
Before the paint dried, I sprayed water on the top and let it drip down together.


HINT: Paint with the doors closed but open them a bit to let them dry. Otherwise, they’ll stick together. Ask me how I know that! When that layer was completely dry, I thinned down some white paint with glazing medium, painted a thick coat on, then wiped it off before it was completely dry. The white glaze stays in the details.I decided not to distress this like I did my previous  turquoise drip jewelry cabinet.


The hardware was just updated with a little gold metallic wax. You can see in the photo below what a difference rubbing and buffing with metallic wax makes on jewelry cabinet handles. All you have to do is rub it on (with a brush or your finger), let it dry, then buff it with a soft cloth.
I liked how the white glaze settled down into all the cracks and the wood burned details. It reminded me of sugar glaze on a pound cake!
Thanks for reading. Hope this inspires you to paint something from the thrift store, too!
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Ann @ Duct Tape and Denim
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  • JoAnn Rapp JoAnn Rapp on Feb 13, 2020

    You said in the comments the wood burned look. Did you torch it? Also it is lovely.

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