New Dining Cabinet

Check out my new dining cabinet!  Actually it's an old dining cabinet but it's new to me.  Isn't it awesome?!

I always check out the furniture when I thrift shop even though I have no room for anything new....you just never know when you'll come across something better than what you have.  I am on a mission to replace all my "crap" furniture with nicer stuff.  I have slowly but surely been finding heavy  old pieces, and I'll keep searching since I DO one day plan to be in a bigger house. I want nice furniture to fit the nice house.

This small cabinet was the last holdout from my college days (over 10 years ago).  It is not a quality piece.  It was a thrift store find, incredibly cheap and small enough to fit in a trailer back in Auburn, Alabama.  Can I get a WAR EAGLE!?  Okay, I'll stop.  Karen, if you are checking out the blog, you'll recognize this piece, it's come along way baby.

Actually it is a lightweight cheapy type that was fake oaky colored and I painted it red and then stained it to give it a mahogany look.  Not too bad for one of my early attempts at painting furniture.  It has been everything from a china cabinet to a microwave stand to a media cabinet and now holds pots and cookbooks.  And it is time for it to go!  Enough about that thing,  let's talk about the glorious new piece.

When I walked into the thrift store, I was greeted with a sign that said 25% off furniture.....oh, nice. Let's see.  Then it called to me from across the room.  I ignored it.  It was too huge, I have a small dining area.  It was too nice, probably too expensive.  I browsed the other pressboard pieces, and a couple of older pieces that would need a lot of work to be functional.  I glanced over again....way too big to fit in my minivan.  I made another lap through the furniture...oh why not at least LOOK it over?

What's this?  Oh, it comes apart into two pieces?  Hmmm....I could work with that.

What's this, only $125?  Hold on....25% off that.  Snatch ticket.  Let's go kids, we are ready to go pay.

Trip one to empty van.  I only live about 10 minutes away.

Trip two to get top half home.  Yes I unloaded it by my self.  Don't ask, you learn to improvise.

Trip three to get the bottom half.  And yes I unloaded it by my self too.  And yes it was heavy.

And yes, I was somehow able to put the top piece on top of the bottom piece all by myself.  It took about 10 minutes of noodle scratching but I managed it.  I rarely wait on the husband for anything regarding home decor....I don't need anyone messing with my groove and he wasn't home anyway. I find that if he isn't as excited as I am about what I am doing, I feel like he is nay-saying and I'd rather not deal with that.  It may be just my perception that he is nay-saying when he says, "we don't need that", "what is wrong with what we have", but he is usually happy with the end results.  I just try to skip the whole middle part so he can see the final results.

So this thing was not a perfect piece.  There are a few scratches.  I can most likely wipe some stain over it to fill that it.  Or I can lightly use steel wool to buff that out... Any experts out there?

And there is this little defect on the drawer.  Not a big worry for me.  Adds character.

Some scruffs on the bottom edge.  Again, not a big deal.  Stain covers a multitude of sins.

I had honestly thought I'd paint it a pretty coral but once I got it home and really looked at it, it looks really nice as it is.  And the husband really doesn't want me to paint it.  He thinks it looks rich as it is and paint would cheapen it's look.  Any thoughts?  I do plan to put a pretty fabric on the back, something that will tie in with the room.  Did I mention, the hubby thinks it looks really nice. :)


One other thing I discovered when I got it home was....not only did I get a new china cabinet, I got a new DESK!

Check this out!

Is that awesome or what!?  I LOVE it when I find such a great deal on something so nice and what a nice surprise to find the desk.  It makes it a truly unique piece.


In case you are wondered about the old china cabinet, it was moved downstairs to store movies, since they were crammed in the stairway closet....but the minute I find another nice small china cabinet to serve that purpose, it is gone!  And yes, I moved it by myself too. :)