Our Prairie Home: Pine Chimney Cabinet

Back in January when I revealed my office makeover, I told you I would tell you about the fiasco that was my pine chimney cabinet. The best makeover stories are the screw-ups with the happy ending, I think.

A chimney cabinet or cupboard was used during the 1800's in the small narrow space in between the chimney and the wall. Mostly used for utility storage, it was a great use of a small space. I have no idea how old the one I found in the "Mart of Doom" (you can read while I call it that HERE) is, but it has definitely seen some wear and tear.

I managed to talk good ol' Gene down to $50.00 from his $75.00 asking price, so at least I saved a wee bit on it.

Probably still paid too much for it, but what-ev. Serves its purpose just fine.

It was really disgustingly gross on the inside - as are most things from the "Mart of Doom", but it cleaned up really well.

Initially, my idea was to remove the lengthwise divider on the inside and replace it with horizontal shelving. Maybe one day. Being the midst of the massive office makeover, honestly I was just too lazy to tackle it... Especially after my massive blunder on it.

Sooooooo...

My idea was to paint her a gorgeous blue with some homemade chalk paint and then give her a little distressing.

Did that. Didn't like it. Too blah.

HOLY COW.
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE OFFICE USED TO LOOK LIKE THAT?????

So, then I got the wondrous idea to write a Bible verse down the entire front of it - in paint marker. A great idea in theory - and probably a great idea if you execute it right. Yeah, I didn't.

Poor Scott took an hour to tediously draw lines down the entire front of the cabinet. As I've mentioned before, I have crooked eye syndrome and I can't even draw a straight line using a ruler. Its a terrible affliction, believe me.

When he was done, I set to work writing Proverbs 31. It looked terrible. I tried silver paint. It was too light. I tried black paint over the silver paint. It was too dark. I had absolutely RUINED the cabinet and I was HORRIFIED.

So, I decided to see if I could take a Magic Eraser to it. Nope, didn't work. 409? Nope. Clorox? Nope. I wanted to cry. Seriously. I REALLY didn't want to paint over it again. You have to understand that at the time I was primer and painting the entire office; Walls AND trim. Not to mention three separate furniture makeover that were going INTO said office. I really, really didn't want to have to start over. Considering I'm not a pro at this and I've only been making over furniture for a little over 6 months, I was at my maximum stress threshold level.

Needless to say, I DON'T have pictures of the catastrophe. If I did, I'd show ya.

As a last ditch effort, I took the sander to it. You know how I REALLY like my chippy, shabby look:

As I sanded, I really started to like what I was seeing.

I sanded a little more...

And a little more...

And a little more.

Bit by bit, I realized that maybe screwing it up had been a good thing.

And the more I sanded and distressed it, the more I liked it.

Or as my kids call it, "Making Everything Old" LOL

And even though I decided to leave the vertical divider in place, it works great for the chicken wire, newspaper, and upholstery I store in it.

Of course, Scott good naturedly grumbled about all the time he had spent drawing all the lines, so I could write the verse straight only for me to sand most of it off. LOL But, it works. And goes wonderfully with the office, even if it was a mistake. :)