A Shiny New Plumage Cabinet to Corral Abe’s Toys

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I know most of you probably started hitting refresh over and over at 6:58 this morning, waiting on this post, since I usually have a post up at 7 on Wednesdays. What? What’s that you say? You’ve never noticed that I usually have a post up at 7 on Wednesdays? Well. Anyway.

The REASON I didn’t have a post up this morning was that last night Dave and I actually went OUT. Without children. My wonderful friend Tracy watched the kids–even the non-sleeping baby (who, of course, slept for her)–while Dave and I went to see Radiolab Apocalyptical. It was pretty awesome. Because there were dinosaur puppets. So then we came home and went to bed without writing any blog posts.

But now! A few hours late! I present to you my weekend project, hinted at on Instagram: a gold dipped, plumage painted cabinet that can hold all of Abe’s toys so that the dogs don’t eat them and we don’t trip over them:

plumage cabinet 8

 

I’ve been wanting both to paint the bottom of something gold and to paint something in Martha Stewart’s Plumage for awhile now: two birds, one stone! Sorry birds. I don’t know why anyone would really throw rocks at birds.

I bought this cabinet quite awhile ago at the thrift store. I believe it was $40. I had plans to use it as a TV cabinet in my den, and it might still end up there eventually. But, in the meantime, we were desperately in need of some storage for the sunroom. It started out terribly unspecial:

plumage dresser 1

 

I forgot to take a picture of it with the old hardware still on it. As it sat in my garage for months, I started to have my doubts about my ability to salvage it into something fun and updated. Clearly there hadn’t been a big rush to buy something, since I let it sit in my garage for months afterwards, so I probably should have held out for something nicer, I thought to myself. But I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

It took most of forever, or at least most of the weekend, to finish this. Dave sanded it lightly first (before picture taken post sanding) since it had a really shiny finish. Then I did a coat of oil based primer. And then THREE coats of paint. I don’t know why it took so many even with the primer on there. But it did. The paint is Martha Stewart’s Plumage in a semi-gloss (from Home Depot). My weapon of choice for painting furniture these days is a little 4 inch roller:

plumage dresser 3

 

I used the brush for the places the roller wouldn’t reach. And then I did the gold on the bottom….it’s also from Home Depot, Martha Stewart’s specialty finish metallic paint in “vintage gold.” (I bought all this Martha Stewart stuff back before Martha Stewart said those things that made bloggers all mad, but, really, I would have done it anyway). I’m happy with the gold paint, although I wish it had been a little thicker; it took a million coats, too.

Then I put a coat of polyurethane over everything, let it dry for a day, and put the new hardware on. I had to order the cup pulls online (also from Home Depot) because apparently the antique brass revival has yet to hit retail stores, and the hardware there is all oil rubbed bronze and brushed nickel as far as the eye can see. I ordered antique brass knobs, too, but they didn’t go with the pulls at all (that company’s idea of antique brass was shiny brass in the middle and then a ring of black around the edges), so I’m going to return those, and I picked up those glass knobs from Hobby Lobby instead.

A few notes:

1. I was worried it was going to be too big in here, but the scale is actually pretty good. We moved the trunk/coffee table that used to be here back into the den until Abe is older.

2. It looks a lot more teal in real life than in the pictures, I think. I wanted something more teal instead of straight navy so it would go well with all the aqua-y green in the room.

3. I’m kind of feeling like we have two different rooms going on now….the style feels different than the big old turquoise “credenza.” I’ll have to live with it for awhile and see. It may be as simple as changing out the credenza’s hardware or painting it.

Picture spew!

Gavroche was very interested in the cabinet when we first brought it in:

Gavroche was very interested in the cabinet when we first brought it in

Abe is excited that not only does the cabinet have his toys in it, but it has DOORS! Which are one of his favorite things right now:

plumage cabinet 10

 

plumage cabinet square

 

Some context:

plumage cabinet 9

plumage cabinet 11

Outdated cabinet made over with Martha Stewart's Plumage paint, new hardware, and gold-dipped legs

 

Linking with:

The Inspiration Gallery

The Creative Connection

Inspire Me Please

Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Link Party Palooza

Monday Funday

By Stephanie Lynn’s Sunday Showcase Party

Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z

Get Your DIY On

CWTS2014 at East Coast Creative

Comments

A Shiny New Plumage Cabinet to Corral Abe’s Toys — 55 Comments

  4. My three year-old has been fascinated with the photo of Abe and all the toys. He’s gotten me to tell him what all the toys are. He even asked about Abe’s red “pants”. We got into a discussion about cloth diapers and all the ones her used to wear. He then asked me if we could get that baby! I guess his own baby brother is not as interesting. 🙂 Needless to say, your cabinet was a hit at our house. 🙂

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks, Julia! I’ve been trying to think of a place to use it ever since YHL used it in their guest bedroom in house #2 🙂

      Reply ↓

  11. SO glad you guys got out! I know how hard that is to do! And wow did you do a beautiful job with this piece! It is just gorgeous with the gold! What an outstanding storage solution!

    Reply ↓

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  24. Love this color! I actually have a quart sitting in my closet that I bought to repaint an armoire… I too can sometimes take a long time to finish projects. 🙂 Visiting from Sunday showcase…

    Reply ↓

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  36. What a stunning transformation! I love the dipped look! Thank you so much for linking up at Get Your DIY On. I hope you’ll come visit on Sunday at 7 pm to link up your holiday signs! Have a great week!

    ~Abby =)

    Reply ↓

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  42. Hah! I go searching for something to do with the piece my FIL gave us for our son’s room and I come across a refurbish of the exact piece! I love it!

    Reply ↓

  43. Oh! Just found your blog site: I LOVE that work. It looks wonderful in your room also.
    May I make a suggestion? Keep one side empty and your baby will love to crawl in there and hide. Add a blanky and you may have a no-struggle nap time place!! Try it, kids love to curl up in hidden places.You can also get huge washing machine boxes from Sears, paint them like little houses, and put toys and blankies and a pillow in there for a play fort and another place to hide and nap. Microwave boxes painted and tied together make great choo-choo trains to climb into and Mommy and Daddy can be the engineers and drag baby and friends all around! Lots of fun! Especially good on tile floors, a little harder on carpet. LOL!

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks so much, Wendy! I’d love to keep one side empty, but, sadly, it’s always overflowing with toys right now. Great ideas re: boxes: he does love boxes (my older kids do, too)….almost as much as the cats do 😉

      Reply ↓

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