Vintage China Cabinet Makeover (aka ‘Here Comes Your 19th Nervous Breakdown’)

I have a favorite non-profit/charity thrift store where I spend all of my money, lately. They have the BEST furniture and decor items. And I love their staff - such wonderful people. And if all that wasn’t enough, as a bonus, every week the furniture is marked down if it didn’t sell.

Sometimes when I find that piece - you know - that piece that whispers ‘Hello’ from across the room and you’re suddenly standing in front of it, knowing exactly what you want to do to make it pretty (or prettier) so that you can put it back out into the world for a second life of being loved. Sometimes, when that happens, I can control myself. I can wait and hope and come back in a week - or two - for the discounted price, and I won’t be crushed it t’s not there anymore. And if it’s not, I tell myself, “Well, somebody loved it and took it home and that’s a good thing.”

That’s not how this story goes.

The Story

This china cabinet called to me - and I answered. I couldn’t resist those French Provincial-style curves on the drawers. Those adorable daisy drawer pulls. And it was just $30. I fell in love with it while thrifting one day with Big D - and of course, I would need his truck to get it home - and of course, he said no. But I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and so I brought my friend Kate back with me the next day, and she loved it too. So much that she offered to help me get it home in her big SUV, which we soon decided couldn’t be done by just the two of us (this thing is huge). So then she offered me her trailer and her husband, which I declined, because Big D wasn’t going to be happy and I’d like for all of us to remain friends.

And just to add to my “I must have this” anxiety, the lovely ladies at the thrift store were very persistent about me buying it, and even offered to hold it for many more days than their policy allows. Or deliver it - for a fee. (To say I’m a repeat customer would be an understatement). I took the ‘hold’ option since I needed some time to come up with a plan to convince Big D what the rest of us already knew - that this china cabinet was coming home with me.

Those bubble glass doors.

I found out - the hard way, of course - that they don’t make this glass anymore.

And just when I thought I couldn’t love this piece more - I found this:

A secretary top drawer! Look at that craftmanship!

This china cabinet is SOLID. And she’s a biggie - 75” tall in total and 62” long, but just 17” deep.

It does show its years of wear, with a deep scratch on the buffet top and lots of dings. But otherwise, a sturdy, well-made piece with lots of charm! And it was “Love - and I Know Exactly What I’m Going to Do With You - At First Sight!”

Here’s a sneak peek…

The wood is beautiful - absolutely no veneers. But the deep scratches and dings meant staining wouldn’t be an option. The style lends itself to country and it’s such a big piece that I wanted to lighten it up.

So let’s get flippin’! (Warning - get yourself a strong hot or cold beverage and get comfy - this is a long one!)

I’ve included a few affiliate links so you can find the products I used.

Supplies

TSP
Scrubbing Sponge
Spray Bottles
Toothbrush & Scrubbing Tool
Painter’s Tape
Minwax Stainable Wood Filler
Putty Knife
Bondo Wood Filler
Surf Prep Sander
Tack Cloths
Arrow Upholstery Staple Remover
Hammers
3M Hand-Masker Painter’s Tape and Masking Film Dispenser Kit
HomeRight Finish Max Super Paint Sprayer
Zinsser Extreme Adhesion Primer
Heritage Collection All-In-One Chalk Paint - Manor House
Heritage Collection All-In-One Chalk Paint - Cobblestone
Paint Filters
Zibra Paintbrush
Mainstays Flavor Injector
Gorilla Wood Glue
Clamps
Straight-Edge High-Density Foam Paint Rollers
Zibra paintbrushes
Artists’ Brushes
WENMER Peel & Stick Beige Floral Wallpaper
Plastic Scraper
Tape Measure
Sharpies
Rotary Cutter & Cutting Mat Set
E6000 Glue
Distressed Blue Keepsake Cotton Fabric
Iron
Hobby Knife Set
Loctite Spray Adhesive
Bar Keepers Friend
0000-Grade Steel Wool
Vinegar
Straight-Edge Razor

(Whew! I’m already exhausted just reading the supply list!)

Prep

First, I removed all of the doors, then all of the glass in the doors. This was my first time attempting glass removal, and I was very afraid of breaking that gorgeous bubble glass!

On most of these vintage china cabinets there are four pieces of plastic or wood trim holding the glass in place. The trim is fitted inside the door frame and held in place with tiny finishing nails.

Removing the trim to release the glass was a two-handed job, and I was more concerned with doing it right and not breaking the glass than getting pictures of the process. So here are my only two photos:

I started by using a small scraping tool and gently wedged it between the plastic and the door frame, near the nails. Once it was under, I carefully lifted the trim away from the door frame. Once I’d created a gap between the door frame and the trim and the nails were visible, I used a needle-nosed pliers to gently ease the nail our of the wood frame. This china cabinet is vintage, and the plastic trim was dry and brittle from age and easily broke apart as I pulled the nails. So I used painter’s tape to attach the pieces back together and marked on the tape where they were located on each door, so that re-assembly wouldn’t be a puzzle. I also left as many nails in the plastic trim as possible, so that I could line up the trim with the holes in the frame when re-installing the glass, and hopefully prevent further breakage of that brittle plastic.

Then my Type-A personality got away from me, and I also went so far as to bag and mark all of the nails I pulled, just in case they were specific to a door!

And then I marked the location of each glass pane so that I knew which side was up and out and which door the pane originally came from. I couldn’t believe that I’d gotten this far without breaking that vintage bubble glass, and wasn’t taking any chances on screwing this up!

I also removed, bagged and tagged the hardware for cleaning at a later time.

I like to separate and mark the hardware from doors, etc, in case there were wonky screws, etc that would only fit in the holes they originally came out of.

I also removed the back from the cabinet, to make painting the inside easier, and because I had a pretty plan for those 3 panels. I used my handy Arrow Upholstery Staple Remover and hammer to remove the nails. The wood was also brittle, which caused some damage in a few places. Once most of the nails surrounding the back of the cabinet were out, I used a rubber hammer to lightly bang on the panel from the inside to loosen the nails holding the back piece to the shelves. This made gripping and pulling the deeply-set-in nails easier.

Then I got to deep-cleaning with TSP, my fave Scrubbing Sponge and a mini brush to get into all of the grooves. I used a paint stirrer and shop rag to get into the small spaces in and around the secretary drawer.

After scrubbing with the TSP solution, I sprayed the pieces with plain water and wiped them down to remove any residue.

Fill & Sand

This china cabinet had a LOT of cosmetic issues! First, there was that deep scratch in the top of the buffet section.

You can see the outline of the cabinet on the top - which meant that the scratch wouldn’t be seen when the china cabinet was on top of the buffet. But - it would be seen by anyone when the 2 pieces were separated - for example, when transporting it home after buying it, or if someone wanted to use the buffet as a stand-alone piece. And, no matter what, I don’t take shortcuts when refinishing furniture.

I started the repair by applying some Minwax Stainable Wood Filler.

I normally use Bondo because I like its short dry-time and how well it sands down, and as I was applying the wood filler, I knew it wasn’t going to work for me. It was just too grainy and didn’t fill the scratch well. So as it dred, I grabbed my Bondo Wood Filler, mixed it up and applied it with a putty knife to the many, many other scratches and dings on the piece.

When the wood filler in the scratch was dry, I sanded it and applied Bondo over it. Once all the Bondo was dry, I sanded those spots smooth and gave the entire piece a scuff-sanding with my SurfPrep and hand-sanded the details. Then wiped everything down with tack cloths. Although I was using an all-in-one paint, which typically doesn’t require sanding or priming, I rarely skip the scuff-sand, since it is an extra insurance that my paint will adhere well and the bond will last well into the future.

My Homemade Paint Booth!

So we have a saying around here at the Reprise Vintage household:

No one was here to tell me No.

It’s how I explain to Big D why things happen that he certainly wouldn’t have agreed to, if he’d been consulted.

That’s how I came to construct a paint booth in my basement workshop. Because it was still winter outside and too cold to paint in the garage - and I certainly wasn’t going to hand-paint this behemoth!

The paint booth idea was a tricky deal, since I would need to get it built and paint the china cabinet with at least 4 coats (2 coats of primer & at least 2 coats of color), then tear it all down and dispose of the evidence before Big D was the wiser. And I’d never done anything like this before and I’m not good at designing and constructing things. “Measure twice cut once” has never worked for me. Ever.

Construction was pretty simple. I followed some of my favorite blogger’s methods, and used this 3M Hand-Masker Pre-Assembled Film & Tape Kit to make plastic curtains that sectioned off a portion of the basement, and covered the wall and bi-fold doors leading to our furnace and ‘fun fridge’. (looking back, maybe not a good idea to spray paint near the furnace…)

As added protection and to keep the plastic from blowing around and into my paint, I set up some broken-down cardboard boxes. Here is my “Little Rascals-like” basement paint booth:

I always like to include ‘Frustrations, Flubs and Fails’ in my posts, to let my reader friends know that the flipping process isn’t all happy and shiny like you see in most other filppers’ posts & videos. It’s full of snafus and is a complete learning process nearly every time.

I’ve also named this post ‘It’s Just Your 19th Nervous Breakdown’ - for a reason. SO MANY things went wrong with this flip. I’d need an entire second blog post to detail them all. So this time, rather than discussing them at the end of the post, I’m incorporating them into the story of how the process unfolded for this piece. Here’s how it started:

#1 - After putting up the makeshift paint booth, I realized I’d wheeled one of my tool carts into the furnace room, and had to keep breaking into it to get at supplies I didn’t remember that I’d need. (After the 3rd break-in, I got smart and just moved my painted pieces out of the way, took the whole side down and wheeled the cart back out).

#2 - Spraying paint means blowing plastic, and I didn’t use enough tape. So I still got paint all over everything, including the floor - which is no good if you’re trying to hide your activities from your spouse. Let’s just say, there was a lot of cleanup in the end, luckily I use water-based primer & paint, which made things easier.

#3 - Lighting in the basement is awful, so I have to use lots of additional lamps and lights to get a halfway decent idea of what I’m doing. Which means a lot of extension cords. And I had the floor lighting and paint sprayer on the same cord, which meant I kept tripping on the cord and knocking the light over as I worked. (Later it occurred to me to use a separate cord for each, but that was after breaking the light…)

The Actual Painting

I used my favorite Zinsser Extreme Adhesion Primer to prevent bleed-through, due to all that sanding, and to ensure the paint adheres well. Since I had scuff-sanded and was using an all-in-one paint (primer, paint & sealer), I probably didn’t need the extra adhesion, but I have a lot of this primer on-hand and it was a good insurance policy that my buyer would have a durable, long-lasting finish. It’s also a cost-saver if you’re painting a piece in a light color, as it gives you a coat or two of white so that you can use less of the more-expensive tinted paint.

I used my HomeRight Finish Max Super Paint Sprayer and slightly watered down and filtered the paint to prevent clogging the sprayer.

Because it was winter, it had been a few months since I’d used the sprayer, and it showed.

#4 - I got the sprayer assembled, filled it with paint, plugged it in, pulled the trigger and - nothing. My first thought was - oh no, I’ve got to paint this thing by hand! Some trouble-shooting later, and I realized I’d forgotten to attach the tube that sucks up the paint.

Once the sprayer was fully-assembled I applied my first coat of primer, and it was clear that this china cabinet was a bleeder..

So I let the primer cure overnight and in the morning I gave it the scratch test to ensure the paint adhered well and the pieces wouldn’t need additional sanding to help the paint to grip. When I scratched a small spot with my fingernail, the paint stayed on the piece, so I knew I could apply a second coat and move forward.

I’d taken apart and cleaned my HomeRight paint sprayer the day before, to keep the paint running through it smoothly. But when I applied the 2nd coat, it was giving me trouble. At first it would spray just fine, but after a while, it would ‘jam up’ with no paint coming through. I thought the nozzle was getting clogged, so I tried to fix it by wiping it down with a damp cloth - but it kept happening.

And I also noticed that the paint was coming out really heavily - no matter how much I adjusted the spray.

In the past, I would have freaked out and wiped off all of the overspray and started over. But I’ve learned to smooth it out as much as possible with a paintbrush while it’s wet, and once dry, just sand to smooth and even it out. But I’m thinking that I need a new spray gun.

I kept going, working with the sprayer and continually adjusting the spray and cleaning the nozzle. I finished priming the whole china cabinet, sanding in between each coat.

Then I cleaned up my paint sprayer and filled it with Heritage Collection All-In-One Chalk Paint in the creamy, antique-white color Manor House, with a little water added to thin it out a bit. My paint sprayer was still giving me trouble, and was dispensing way too much paint. So much that I started out with one full 32-oz jar and one half-full 8-oz jar, and had to buy more paint to finish the project! That’s a LOT of paint! So thick I could probably hit it with a hammer and not even make a dent! But I still couldn’t figure out what the problem was.

Here are the primed and painted china cabinet pieces:

While the paint was drying, I made a few repairs to the china cabinet back panels I’d removed. I used a flavor injector I picked up at Walmart to apply some Gorilla Wood Glue into the splitting wood, then held it together to dry with some stir sticks and clamps to dry. Although most of the damage wouldn’t be seen once the cabinet was re-assembled, I wanted to make the piece as sturdy as possible.

While I’m cleaning up the repair tools, I spot THIS next to my shop sink!

It’s the Air Cap for my paint sprayer!

I’d forgotten to install it when I was painting.

That’s why the paint was coming out so herky-jerky. And that’s why there was so much overspray, regardless of how much I adjusted the spray pattern. I’m thinking I should make myself a checklist for assembling that paint sprayer…

For the interior of the china cabinet, I chose Heritage Collection All-In-One Chalk Paint in Cobblestone. In the jar, the color looks light gray, but once it was painted on, it took on a bluish hue that I actually liked even better. I applied it with my Straight-Edge High-Density Foam Paint Rollers and fave Zibra paintbrushes. These straight-edge rollers are excellent for getting into all the corners of the cabinet and shelves.

Wallpaper Woe

It was the wallpaper that nearly did me in. But I stuck with it.

Another first - I’d never worked with wallpaper before. Or anything like it. I’ve lined many, many drawers with fabric, but never anything on the scale of a 62” by 35” cabinet.

I chose this pretty floral WENMER Peel & Stick Beige Floral Wallpaper.

It all started out deceivingly-well.

The back of the cabinet consists of 3 panels - the large middle piece and two smaller pieces on each side. I’d decided to attach the 1st piece in the center of the middle panel -as it’d be the focal-point of the cabinet - and work my way out from there, matching the pattern to continue through the panels on either side.

I laid it out, measured and cut it with my Rotary Cutter & Cutting Mat Set. Then I carefully peeled away the backing, bit by bit, as I stuck the wallpaper to the panel and smoothed the surface with a plastic scraper.

And Viola!

I remember feeling uneasily confident because this first piece of wallpaper went so well. You can see the dark wood through the wallpaper, but that’s not a problem because those are the lines of the cabinet shelves, which won’t be seen when the panel is re-attached to the cabinet. But remember those lines - they’ll come up again later…

I continued, lining up the pattern on the right-hand side of the wallpaper panel I’d just attached. Everything lined up pretty well.

Then I moved to the left-hand side, and the wheels fell off. No matter what I did - no matter where I started on the roll - top, middle, bottom - the patterns would not line up. I was grateful that I’d over-bought (I had 6 rolls of wallpaper) because I expected a lot of waste during the learning curve. So I started lining up roll after roll, to see if any would work. When I could match a pattern, I’d run out of wallpaper on the roll and wouldn’t be able to cover either the top or the bottom of the panel completely - the rolls just weren’t long enough.

At this point, my eyes are starting to cross, and I’m feeling like this is some sort of IQ test that I’m failing.
So I tear it all up and start over

At this point, since I know I can get the pattern to always line up on the right-hand side, the plan changes to starting on the left and working my way right.

And it works.

But then my luck runs out on technique. And I get bubbles. And creases.

And so much more pulling up and re-positioning and tearing off of wallpaper…

So I pour myself a glass of wine (or two). At this point Big D wanders in, surveys the wallpaper carnage, and asks what’s going on. And as I choke back tears of frustration, I tell him the story.

And he casually says, “Ya know, they usually put the pattern repeat on the wallpaper wrapping. And I stop choking back tears and I want to choke him.

Haha - no I don’t (this time) - I want to choke myself for being such a dingy and not reading packages or instructions before starting a project. And sometimes it’s good to just walk away, do something else, have more wine and call it a day.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S! That’s the way we spell SUCCESS! …or is it?

Eventually, I ended up with this:

Not too shabby, right?

So I breathe a sigh of relief, pick up the 3 panels and start down to the basement to re-attach them to the cabinet.

And I spot this:

The best way I could illustrate what I’d done was to hold it up to a mirror. See the lines of wood and painted parts facing me? Remember earlier when I said they’d come up again?

I ATTACHED THE WALLPAPER TO THE WRONG SIDE OF THE PANEL!!!!

So I laughed a lot and cried a little and realized I had two options:
1 - Kepp the wallpaper as-is and paint the entire back of the cabinet so it matched.
2 - Re-wallpaper this panel

Remember what I stickler I am about numbering everything and making sure I mark which side is left and right and up - and out?

I thought about option #1, but all the nail holes in the panel and cabinet wouldn’t line up properly, since the panel would be flipped. And how many coats of paint would I need to apply to make the back of the cabinet - which would rarely be seen, any - look good? At what extra cost? And, with all that extra wallpaper I’d gotten, I still had more than enough left over.

So I went with option #2 and re-applied the paper to that panel. And here’s how it looks in the cabinet:

In certain light, you can see the seam down the middle. But that’s where the two cabinet doors meet, so it’s not really noticeable. And I’m pleased with how it looks and am moving forward and not looking back.

Lining the Drawers

The drawers were mostly in great shape, but a couple had some staining. And with the grey-blue color inside the cabinet doors, I thought carrying some color into the drawers would bring the piece together. I certainly was not going to line the drawers with wallpaper! (the wallpaper panels were too narrow and would have required lining the pattern up - again) So I got this complementary fabric at Joann that echoed the gray-blue of the cabinet interiors.

My method of lining drawers is to make a template out of paper and use that to size the fabric to fit. The buffet had 3 large drawers and 2 small side drawers. I started with the large drawer - fitted and cut the paper and set aside the excess.

One of the smaller drawers had a divider in it - likely for silverware, so I worked with that one for the template. I’d walked away and came back, and looked through the leftover paper for a size that would work. I found one that was the perfect size except for being too long (which meant only one cut), and thought to myself, “Nice! Maybe my luck on this project is changing!”

I’d already ironed the fabric, so I went to grab my 2 templates to start cutting. And I couldn’t find the large template I’d made. And then it hit me - I hadn’t found a nearly-exact-fitting scrap to fit the small drawer…

I’D CUT THE LARGE TEMPLATE TO FIT THE SMALL DRAWER!!

At this point, I’d like to say I’m making this stuff up. But I’m not.

Yes, a minor flub, in the grand scheme of things. But it just seems to be a never-ending stream of hiccups with this project!

The upside is that I taped the 2 pieces together and they worked perfectly for the large drawers. And, of course, taken apart, they worked just fine for the smaller drawers. And I might just use this streamlined, less-cutting, less-waste process for all my drawer lining in the future!

The same Rotary Cutter & Cutting Mat Set that made the wallpaper cutting the easiest part of that process did double-duty for cutting the fabric for the drawer liners.

Once cut, I lay the fabric out in the drawer, fold in half and lightly spray the exposed part of the drawer bottom with Loctite Spray Adhesive. After waiting a few minutes for the spray to get tacky, I fold the fabric back down and press to smooth, then repeat the process with the other half of the drawer.

Cleaning the Hardware

I try to re-use the original hardware as often as possible - especially if it enhances the piece. And those daisy handles were definitely staying with this china cabinet!

To revive the hardware to a lustrous sheen, I use the following process:
1. Mix equal parts of white vinegar and water in a pan, add hardware and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
2. Carefully remove from the pan and brush off all loose gunk with a toothbrush. (Wear protective gloves). At this point, the hardware starts looking good, but the next step really makes the difference…
3. Spray with Bar Keepers Friend and scrub with 0000-Grade Steel Wool

The result is stunning:

Replacing the Glass - The (Finishing) Nail in the Coffin…

So long ago in this post, I mentioned the success in removing the vintage bubble glass form the china cabinet frame. I’d carefully removed the plastic trim holding the glass in place, and planned to reuse it (after painting it to match the fresh new look of the restyled cabinet). Since I’d marked each piece’s location, the small finishing nails should line up into the original holes, and I’d just need to add a few new more nails for extra hold.

I carefully replaced the glass into the frame and identified which piece of trim went where.

The finishing nails that stayed in the trim fit back into their holes perfectly. The nails that had been pulled completely out were a variety of different sizes, so getting them back into place was a bit harder. Big D gave me a nail punch to tap the nails into place with an upholstery hammer.

Underneath the tool is the felt-covered panel that had been in the bottom of the silverware drawer. I was using it as a buffer so that, if the tool slipped while I was hammering, I wouldn’t break the glass. I thought that plan was genius, and hammered away. And when I lifted the felt, I’d broken the middle-right glass panel, and I hadn’t even heard it happen. I took pictures. They’re gone.

We have a great local glass company that’s been in business for 40 years. I brought a panel of bubble glass to them and they let me know it’s no longer made. So I had them replace the two middle glass panels, and held my breath that I wouldn’t break any more. So the china cabinet has two bubble glass panels now.