Modern rustic cabinet with added steel legs

Medium
We up-cycled an old cabinet that was going to end up in a skip and uplifted it with simple renovation and killer accessories.
After
We’ve got this cabinet from a freecycler, who was going to skip it if nobody would come to collect. I saw a good project with great potential.
Before
The cabinet was dull, with an ugly plywood top, broken back panel and flat to the floor.
It took me a week observing the cabinet and trying to figure it out what to do with it. First thing I've decided was to remove the ugly top made of plywood and replace it with a ‘new’ top made of salvage pallet timber.
We used for the first time the kreg jig tool to put the wood together in a plank style, sanded down until we’ve got a smooth surface then we stained with ‘Ronseal Woodstain in Satin Walnut’ to give a dark rich finishing with a bit of sheen. My husband also fixed one of the back panels that was broken.
For the outside of the cabinet I’ve mixed 3 different colour of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, 10 parts of Paris Grey + 5 Parts of Graphite + 2 Parts of Old Violet to get the dark blueish grey that I wanted for the cabinet to give it an industrial cool look. The inside I’ve decided to leave it as it was, black paint.
The best part comes now which made all the difference and lifted up the cabinet to another level. The cabinet was really lifted up as I added four hairpin legs made of steel. The legs are 20cm high, just enough to lift the cabinet from the floor and bring some lightness to it.
I also replace the handles for a cast iron ones that matched the legs and brought in a bit more of the industrial look to it.
I don’t know if this cabinet was custom handmade or manufactured by a company because its unbranded, but it is well made, sturdy and solid wood. A piece of furniture with plenty of storage space that will last for many years to come. It was worth to save from the skip. Thanks for reading.
Monica - The Pallet House
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Lorrie Lorrie on Sep 26, 2016
    Where did you buy your hairpin legs? And what do you consider a good price for them? It looks awesome!
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  • Mindy Mindy on Jun 20, 2018

    I know this is an old post, but I’m just seeing it for the first time. You did a wonderful job on this re-do! When I first saw it (before reading how you did it), I thought it was a metal cabinet. Great job with the paint! I hope whoever owns it now cherishes it!

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