The $5 cabinet, $35 later

Last week I posted about the amazing $5 cabinet I got from my dad, and also about my pinterest inspirations. As you might guess from looking at the inspirations, I decided to paint it. From the pictures I found, I was mostly inspired by the gray cabinet, the white interior, glass doors, and the black knobs, so that's exactly what I did. $25 of glass, $10 of paint, and many hours of work later, but it's done!

 I'll give you a run down of the process below, but first, for what really matters, the before and afters:

I always take these hasty, blurry, not-so-hot before pictures, and totally not on purpose! Next project, my goal is a decent before picture!

Before

After

After

I love that it still has charm, and looks a bit old fashioned, but it's totally cleaned up fresh. Unlike other painting projects I've done, my goal wasn't glossy white perfection. I chose eggshell paint in a shade of "graigh" (gray+beigh) for the exterior. I wanted to still be able to see some of the wooden texture, and while you can't see that in the picture, in person it gives you a hint what's underneath. However, on the interior, I went with glossy white. I love how it shows off everything I love about the outside. They both really show each other off.

To change up the hardware, I decided I wanted it to be black. While initially I planned on replacing it, I remembered I actually had a can of matte black spray paint, so I was able to do that part for free! I gave the knobs and hinges several coats of spray. Super easy, and I was so happy with the result.

I decided to go with glass for the doors. It was a little bit more difficult than the other options, because removing the wood and metal panels that were already there meant removing the wooden pieces that were holding them in as well. After I had glass cut at Lowe's, I had to re-create a way to secure the glass in place.

I used squared off wooden sticks, which I cut to size, and then glued on top of the wood and to the side of the panel.

I wasn't planning on painting the wooden pieces, but I quickly realized that the exposed wood was visible from the outside, and it needed to be gray!

Here it is today, now that it's put back together, dry, and in use.

It has some decorative items in it, as well as functional things. Cookbooks are on the bottom, as well as a big glass jar we keep Mango's cat food in. Now instead of being across the kitchen, it's right by her food. The beautiful orchid up top was a gift from the early intervention team I worked with. I keep finding myself walking in the dining room just to stare at. It was a lot of work to be sure, but it's work I love! I almost zone out while doing work like this, and find it to be totally relaxing. Looking at the before and after is really neat too. I'm ready for another project!