Last week I shared the wardrobe cabinet I planned to refinish and convert to a display cabinet….HERE.

Definitely lacking in soooo may respects. But I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with it.

These “inspiration” pictures have been on my computer for over a year, just waiting on the perfect piece to transform!

The last one is probably my favorite…a Pinterest find. It was the one that influenced me the most, as you will see.

So the plan…remove the panels in the door and add glass. Remove all the shelves and add glass shelving. Lighten the back of the inside. Strip the doors and drawers and apply tung oil. Paint the rest of the outside of the cabinet black. Replace the hardware. Add a light.

So of course the first step is to deconstruct and then begin the stripping process on the doors, drawers and inside back panel.

What a chore!!!! I think someone, at some point, had applied at least 20 coats of poly. The 1/2 acetone, 1/2 lacquer thinner process I shared HERE, wasn’t cutting it. I applied Citristrip and wrapped everything in plastic wrap…that seemed to do the trick for 80% of the finish…then I was able to sand off the rest since this was mostly solid, then clean it up with the 1/2 and 1/2 mixture. Remember, you don’t want to vigorously sand veneer because it can be super thin and you can end up sanding right through it. I started with an 80 grit then finished with a 220 grit. Then I hand sanded it with 220 to get it butter smooth.

I knew this piece was old (which is why I know the poly was NOT the original finish) and that was confirmed when I checked out the underside of one of the drawers.

It was signed and dated…most likely by the person who constructed it…August 11, 1914…wow!

The other thing I discovered was the mortise and tenon peg joint. So super cool. Normally drawers are constructed using dovetail joints. This was unusual to find, but probably not unusual for the times.

I removed the doors to make it easier to work on the inside as well as make it easier to strip them. Remember to ALWAYS reenforce screw holes when you remove the screws. Not hard at all. Just take a match stick, dip it in wood glue, then insert the stick in the hole and break it off.

This will ensure that when you go to reinsert the screw, it won’t be loose or “wonky.”

I stripped the inside back panel then sanded it down. I tried lightening it with oxalic acid but it still seemed a tad to dark and a bit yellow. So I ended up applying a whitewash. Just a little white paint mixed with water, brush it on, wipe it off…like a stain. I can still see the character and grain of the wood but it lightens the interior considerably.

There was a tiny bit of veneer on the base of the cabinet and one side was in pretty rough shape. My original plan was to remove all the old veneer and apply a new piece. I planned to paint the outside of the cabinet so it didn’t matter that it would be different than the other side.

Problem was, when I went to remove the loose veneer, some of it was SUPER stuck…as in it was NOT coming off.

Soooo, punt.

I scraped off all that I could then I used wood filler to get a smooth surface.

This picture is after the 1st coat.

The whole process took a lot of time and patience. Fill, let it dry, sand…apply some more, let it dry, sand. It probably took 3-4 applications to get the side perfectly smooth and ready for paint.

REMEMBER, paint will NOT cover poorly patched or repaired areas…if anything it will highlight it. So take your time and do it right!

After patching, puttying and caulking, I primed the entire outside of the cabinet with primer, sanded it smooth with 220 grit paper and then wiped it down with a tack cloth.

I then spay painted it with a flat black paint. Remember, light coats…2-3.

The paint I used SAID it was primer and paint in one. As you may know, I do not trust that and will ALWAYS apply a good primer before paint…always.

I stripped the drawers and doors (using this process) and I used my new favorite tung oil finish to seal them.

I added new shelving support using some leftover walnut I had from my office feature wall project. I wanted good solid support since it would be holding glass shelves and china…glue and nails!

(This is solid natural walnut…no stain…just an oil finish!)

I moved it in the house before I added the glass or hung the doors…just made it lighter and easier to move…okay, RELATIVELY easy…this sucker is big!

So, my original plan was to put it in my office. But it covered too much of the feature wall I worked so hard on. I moved the Drexel server into the office and put this cabinet in the dining room.

The final touch was the hardware. My original plan was to find some simple tear drop hardware. While looking, I found these precious little ginko leaf designs on Etsy.

Back story…years ago when my kids were little we lived in a house that had a HUGE old ginko in the court yard. I have the loved these trees ever since. Kind of quirky but with a story.

I added a LED light inside the cabinet…simple!

Now I have a place to display more of our family china.

Rather than fill it with all the china I have stored away I selected a few serving pieces of each set. I like to use antique books as risers so I picked a few up at a local flea market.

The only things I purchased were the candle lantern and a fake plant. I know, fake plants are suppose to be “faux pas” these days…I don’t care…I can’t keep a real one alive and it looks lovely.