Upcycled Vintage Cabinet

I want to share a recent project with you that I am really excited about. Please excuse the i-pad photo's.  It's what I had with me. 

                         Here's the upcycled vintage cabinet.

I am so pleased with how it turned out. One of the things I like best about it is that it was a collaborative effort with Hunky Hubby. I conned convinced him into helping me completely renovate this cabinet.
Here is a shot of the before:

This little cabinet had a bit of a 70's vibe going on.  The cabinet door fronts and spindles screamed outdated.  I could have thrown a coat of white paint on it and that alone would have improved it's look.  However I had bigger ambitions for this piece of furniture. 

I really love the rustic and shabby chic look.  I don't know what it is.  I kind of have a thing for antiques and vintage items.  Not all vintage items, but some.  

I had a purpose for this cabinet that fueled my design. I needed a cabinet to put in a local store to display some of my kitschy crafty notions for sale. 

So I tried to share my vision with H.H. and together we transformed this dated beast into a lovely and eye catching piece of furniture. 

Here's a little break down of what happened:

Hunky hubby replaced those ugly spindles with a new original design.  We also increased the space between the cabinet and the shelf.  I gave the original cabinet a coat or three of paint and distressed it. H.H. built a base for the cabinet to sit on so it no longer hugged the floor.

H.H. found some old galvanized steel roofing material to use as a back for the whole piece.  Then we found some cast off pieces of wood from the wood shop at camp and recovered the top of that cabinet. I chose a herringbone pattern that looks really nice with the different colors and tones of wood.  

To add a little color and texture and an element of surprise I modge-podged some chevron scrapbook paper into the top shelf. If you look closely you may see the old burlap coffee sacks that were modge-podged onto the sides of the interior of the bottom cabinet. We also built the super cute bins you see on the bottom shelf. 

I needed hooks to be able to display the hooded towels that I make.  I wanted something creative and more importantly cheap.  Well, most importantly, it had to go along with the 'look' of the whole piece.  So I hopped over to the local thrift store and bought some forks. Yep, forks.  I hammered them straight and bent them up.  I love the look and the element they add.  

I have no idea if any of my crafts will sell. Building this cabinet with H.H. was so much fun, I don't really care. It gave me a great excuse to make an awesome piece of furniture and I couldn't have done it without my husbands' expertise.  I know there are a lot of women who can use power tools all by themselves, but I don't want to be one of them!  I love to have an excuse to work alongside my man. 

If you happen to be in the local area, pop into Natural Living and check out the cabinet for yourself.  You'll probably love it as much as I do.  It's one of a kind!