Have you ever seen a piece that you just had to have? The one that you originally walked away from and its all you could think about? The one you knew if you did not go back and get, it would haunt you? Thats what this 100+ year old cabinet was to me. From the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it.
After about a year of having this beauty, my heart began to crave change. I moved it to another room and struggled with the size in my space. I felt like “she” really needed some legs to add height. Also, I wanted to display terra cotta pots in her and there was not enough room to leave the door open. I decided it was time for a complete cabinet makeover. Off with the door and on with the legs!
Adding the legs were pretty simple. I went to Lowe’s and picked out the best option for my cabinet size. With the piece being so old, we did run into some issues of the wood being warped. We simply pushed the wood out and nailed at the same time to keep it straight so we could attach the legs correctly. You can see detailed videos of this on my Instagram in the highlight titled Cabinet Makeover.
After the legs were added came the challenge of making them look like they had been there along. I started by color matching the paint. In true Charlotte fashion, I carried the whole door into Lowe’s to make sure it would be a correct match! Good thing I did, because it took 4 tries to get it right. Each time we added a small amount of paint to the door to see if it would match after drying.
Because this old cabinet naturally crackled over time, I wanted the legs to have that same crackle effect. I went with Valspar’s Weathered Crackle Glaze and Valspar’s Antiquing Wax. I also got a sample color of brown paint that would look like wood underneath the crackled paint. I will admit that I got this process wrong before I got it right!
After doing it the wrong way, I learned what worked the right way. I switched my satin sheen out for flat and applied the top coat of paint to a tacky glaze. Here are the steps I used to do it correctly
1. PAINT BOTTOM COAT AND LET DRY. In my case, I painted the legs brown to look like wood showing through when top coat crackles.
2. ADD HEAVY GLAZE FOR HEAVY CRACKLE, LIGHT GLAZE FOR LIGHT CRACKLE. In my case, the cabinet was already heavily crackled so I wanted the legs to match. I went heavy. Be sure to apply the glaze in one direction with brush.
3. WHILE GLAZE IS TACKY, ADD TOP COAT OF FLAT PAINT. It took about 50ish minutes for my glaze to get almost dry, but still tacky. I then painted the top coat (color matched paint). Be careful with this step not to go too heavy with the paint and to also brush the paint on in the same direction that you brushed the glaze on. Do NOT use the back and forth motion while painting the top coat. If you do that, it will block the glaze from cracking the paint open. I heard you can use satin, but it adds an extra barrier for the glaze to push through. That’s why I opted to go with flat the second time to guarantee success!
Now that I have the crackle perfectly matched, time to add the antiquing wax! Remember to go very light with this. It doesn’t take much at all. Just dip a small piece of cloth and wipe very lightly in areas to give it even more of an aged look. That’s it!
Let's be real... life can be complicated. How about we do it together and have fun along the way as we find the happy in our every day?!
I just love it soo much. ????????????????♥️????????
So glad you like it! Thanks for visiting the blog!
I love how it turned out!!
Your IG stories were great!!! ????❤️
So many were invested in this piece! Ha! Thanks for following along!
I love watching your stories every day! Keep up the great work!
You are so sweet. Thank you for visiting the blog as well!
Love the addition of the legs! It looks so good!
Thanks so much! It made the biggest difference!
I can’t wait to try this on a large armoire I have! ????
Oh please tag me! I would love to see it!
I love your house The legs came out beautiful
Charlotte~
I love it! And those legs. They are swoon worthy, for sure. 🙂
Deb
This is my favorite project I’ve seen on IG and I have an antique cabinet with horrible faux woodgrain looking paint job that I’m going to do this to! Here’s hoping I can find all my materials to buy online so I can do it during the quarantine! ❤️
Aw yay! I’m so glad you like it. I would love to see what you do!
Your blog is beautiful Charlotte! I love how you made the legs look old like the rest of the piece. Beautiful!
Ok girl this piece is stunning! I love the legs…so smart. Thanks for sharing your painting techniques too…now I need to find something to paint!
Love how you made this over! Thanks for sharing the process!