Estate sale makeover

These wall units and their similar China cabinet versions found their way into family homes for many many years. But they are very dated and no one seems to want them. Most of the time they are made of beautiful solid wood and you can pick them up for a screaming deal. I found this one on the Facebook marketplace for $200 for all three pieces. I think everyone can agree that this is pretty old fashioned looking. It’s not simple design. But under those glass doors and flowered cupboards I could see that the bones of this piece would reveal nice clean lines. Under all of the miss matched doors and old fashioned finish there was something beautiful.

I needed something to add height and storage in my living room. I love all of the built-in creations that I see on Instagram and Pinterest. The idea of having open shelving that I could decorate throughout the year had me considering purchasing one of those cheaper IKEA shelving units and adding on moulding pieces to make it look like a built in.

Envisioning displays for Christmas, seasonal spring and fall decor, collections of shells in the summer and of course books, I started to keep my eye on the market place.

Within a few days this piece popped up for a great price.

I love that it has cupboards and drawers to hide away the things that are not beautiful but are useful.

I do a lot of furniture refreshing so this unit sat in my living room for over a year before I had the time and energy to tackle the project. Sometimes we just need a powerful reason why… Mine was I was tired of looking at that brown monster piece of furniture with the hideous doors and carvings.

And this is what it looks like today.

OK was I right about the transformation!? The lines are so lovely without the doors. The moulding stands out. It’s balanced nicely by having the drawer unit in the middle and flanked by the units that hold the cupboards at the bottom.

It took me over a week to complete but I love the makeover.

I sanded, primed, and painted three coats of simply white paint. I bought new handles in gold.

My whole family took part in the process. My eldest son removed all the doors from the top. My husband filled in all of the chips and scrapes as well as cutting and making that scalloped piece of moulding on the left-hand side look like the other two pieces. Everyone had a hand in sanding for a smooth finish.

Hubby and I filled in the flower patterns with wood filler over several days to get a nice smooth finish. They were than given a few coats of primer, followed by more simply white paint.

This is by far the biggest piece I’ve ever done but I am so happy with it. Over the Christmas holidays it looked beautiful in the living room with lots of gold and greenery. It’s winter here and so I am going to start filling it with some books and winter Decour. It’s just the right height that I needed for the room.

The lighting inside was actually already a part of it. I just replaced the lightbulbs and set everything up onto one cord with one switch.

The next time you are looking for Furniture have a look at an estate piece. Look past all of the extra bits that are typically attached to see what’s underneath. If it’s solid wood it’s worth the effort to get a great piece of furniture that will last and not break the budget.

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