Last week you saw the china cabinet that I’m going to make over for my office. Today I’m back with my makeover plans–and a couple of spots where I need your input.
This cabinet is a win for a lot of reasons: drawers (surprisingly hard to find), the exact width I need to fit on the wall beside the window, solid wood, decent quality.
It has one big miss though. It’s not quite as tall as I want. The three shelves on the upper hutch are great. But they’re too short to hold even a magazine. So I’m planning to rebuild the top to give a little more breathing room between the shelves. I think I can reuse a lot of the hutch–everything except the side pieces, which isn’t a bad thing because I don’t love the half-moon cutouts anyway.
I’ll make the old and new wood blend with a coat of white paint, but I have a plan to let a bit of the wood show through. Hopefully I can sand out some of the scratches.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the pulls yet. They’re all wood and completely recessed into the doors and drawers. I can’t remove them without leaving big holes in the cabinet. I’m wondering if some gold paint would work. I have an idea it might look a bit campaign-esque like this dresser from Centsational Girl. What do you think?
The other area I’m questioning is the legs. Right now, there are two long legs on the bottom. Basically 2x4s screwed to the cabinet. (Please ignore the dust).
I feel like I’d like something a little more traditional. Here are some options I picked up from Home Depot. Which do you like best?
I’m not sure when I’m going to get to the cabinet makeover, but I’m excited by the possibilities.
What are your ideas for the makeover? Any ideas to deal with the handles? What about the leg options?
Home on 129 Acres 
Hmm, I think the prominently rounded corners of the doors and those pulls are kind of a look and you’re better off not fighting it and leaving them natural wood. It won’t matter if one piece isn’t really your taste, especially once you put your things on it and decorate the room around it.
Those are all good points. Now you’ve given me the idea of leaving the handles natural wood and painting around them. I feel like that might look neat.
I can’t wait to see this all white. but I am firmly in the paint everything white category. I think the tallest of the legs would look great.
I’m a convert to the power of white paint. Thanks for your vote on the legs.
I think the pulls are a bit 90’s, and if you paint them gold they might look like 90’s-painted-gold. But if you took them out and got some hardware with big base plates you could cover the holes. Or else put a thin plate over the holes in a shape that mirrors your base plate and/or the drawer shape, out of hardboard perhaps? Paint it all white with some nice shiny or black hardware and you could get a good tailored look.
As for the legs, I vote for the big low round ones, with the tall ones as second choice. I think the wasp-waisted ones would be too busy, especially if you straighten out this sides where the half-moons are.
What a great find! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
I agree about the feet. I like the tall ones but I think the wider shorter ones are a better perspective for the piece.
I also like the ideas of covering the holes and then adding hardware you like. You can cover them so that they look like they are a base for the hardware.
That desk from Centsational Girl is adorable!
Thanks for your vote, Sarah.
Good suggestion for the backplates. I’d not considered something like that.
And I hadn’t seen the halfmoons in the feet before, but now those are definitely off the table!
I enjoyedd reading your post