Every month on my local lifestyle show, Indy Style the viewers are challenged to submit projects that they would like me to revamp, reconstruct or remake. (Are you local? I need some more submissions!) This month’s pick was an outdated little wall shelf. Mary submitted this and remembers it hanging on the wall of her dad’s home growing up. She always loved the shelf and she interherited it about a year ago. She hadn’t put it to use because it wasn’t her style. So I revamped it to give it more of a classic feel. Inspired by the Newport Wall Cabinet at Pottery Barn I added some molding and white paint to give it an extreme makeover suitable for Mary’s light and airy style.
It began as this old country wall shelf with chicken wire doors on it.
1. I deconstructed the shelf removing all the pieces I wasn’t going to use, including the doors. Then I cut a new wood top.
2. Next I cut some crown molding with my chop saw that I removed from the top of this cabinet and cut it to fit the new top. I cut some base molding for the bottom and some decorative half-moon molding for the side. I used wood glue and my air nailer to tack everything in place.
3. I used wood filler and caulk to fill all the seams of the molding and to patch holes. Then I sanded the entire piece down with various grits of sandpaper making it smooth and ready for paint.
4. After a good cleaning, I used my paint sprayer to prime and paint it. I painted it Bright White in Satin by Behr.
Here is my inspiration piece to the left. It is the $249 Newport Wall Cabinet from Pottery Barn. The one I revamped cost me about $7 in the decorative molding for the side. The rest I had in my stash.
I think the white will be suitable for any home and I hope even though it is revamped it still holds some sentimental value in Mary’s heart.![page break_thumb[1]](https://infarrantlycreative.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/page-break_thumb1.jpg "page break_thumb[1]")
Beckie you are a genius and proof that with a little elbow grease and out-of-the-box thinking we can have those pricey catalog looks for next to nothing. And I bet it probably fits your space better than the PB version. Really well done.
wow what a great idea! i love how this turned out, regarding the top and the bottom, how did you cut it? it looks really nice.
Wow!! I can’t believe you achieved the look for $7! It looks fantastic. This is a great reminder that just because an item is “inherited” doesn’t mean you can’t update it.
great re-do on the cabinet beckie! 🙂 it looks great.
gail
ps I hope you didn’t get rid of the doors. 😉
Come on you know me better than that. {wink!}
I mitered it with my chop saw. Mitering is kind of tricky at first and it takes a lot of time and practice but it does do a nice cut.
Thank you Jaime, that means a lot coming from the knock off queen herself 😉
WOW I can’t believe that only cost you $7?! You did a fabulous job, love the crown molding on top.
Gorgeous. I followed the link to your blue cabinet, which I LOVE, and then I followed the link to the inside of the blue cabinet, which I LOVE, then I followed the link to the Wii game storage tutorial, which is so smart…….good thing there wasn’t another link or I’d be there all day. What inspiration! I gotta get me some more tools.
This is awesome. I have shelves and a cabinet with doors in my new sewijg room. It’s all furniture i snagged from other rooms, so both of those pieces are laminate. I saw yes terday how to paint it with chalk board paint first to get regular paint to stick. Add paint in a pretty color plus your molding trick here and i have custom pieces that cost me …. paint and trim? I can live with that….
This is simply beautiful Beckie! And I love what you did with the ribbons on the clothes pins… just what I’ve been looking for!
Absolutely amazing! I am so inspired to try something similar with a cheap bookshelf I have. It looks better than the original Pottery Barn. Thanks for sharing. -K
I love this idea…it really makes me start thinking of the old things we have and how we can update them to look like things we’d love to have in a catalog. Thanks for breaking it down…makes it seem very do-able!
Amazing transformation.
good luck, it really isn’t that hard. Mitered cuts can tend to be tricky. You have to practice first. Once you get it down you will want to put crown molding on everything.
You can als use Bin Ultimate Stain Blocker before you paint also. I have used that before.
HAHA…I certainly wouldn’t mind.
Love it! It takes real talent to see what something can become, not just what it is. (and it takes dedication to connect the two and actually do it!)
Hello,
Just found your site today from a Hometalk link about your purple bathroom. You have some great ideas and a nicely done web site. You are bookmarked & I will keep checking back. Thanks for the inspiration! Have a good day.
love it
Then check out my other site knockoffdecor.com. You will love it.