Storage Cabinet from Crate and Barrel Goes to the Furniture Spa!

I absolutely adore the output of this project! I came upon this Crate and Barrel tall storage cabinet. Judging from the prices of the pieces that are currently in stock at Crate and Barrel, I suspect that my "project" was somewhere around $1,000 when originally purchased. After being in the furniture refinishing business, I am shocked that Crate and Barrel can charge this for manufactured furniture.

I have always been a fan of buying wood furniture (and cars) used on CL. I haven't seen a study of this, but I would venture to guess that any piece of wood furniture depreciates around 40% as soon as you take it home. Think about how many "like new" bed frames from Restoration Hardware you've seen on CL - people just don't get it and try to sell their RH bed frame for 10% lower than retail. Needless to say, it never sells.

Nevertheless, this Crate and Barrel cabinet was indeed a score since it has great lines and interesting detail - crown molding and a frame inset on the door - so CB cabinet shall be transformed into a Bex Wilder original beauty!

Here is the before and after! I love it!!!

How I did it

How to Paint Perfect Stripes on Furniture

I am painting this Crate and Barrel china cabinet - vintage and antique furniture is of WAY higher quality, by the way - and wanted to paint stripes on the bottom drawer. I have painted stripes before on furniture only to be frustrated because the paint bleeds through the furniture to make what could be a perfect stripe imperfect. Fortunately I distress furniture, so I can sand the seepage away - but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and knew/know now that the perfect stripe can be painted!

It's a very simple technique.

First, tape up your stripes; and make sure to use a level to ensure that your stripes are perfectly straight. On my china cabinet I painted three stripe colors but this technique works for as many layers of stripes as you can fit on to your piece of furniture.

Coffee table needs a new look!

Here's another find from CL. What I like about this table is its solid foundation and tiger wood top. What I do not like about this table are the square decorative metal inlays, the color, and the chipping varnish (I didn't test for the type of finish but my guess is varnish), and the reddish tone of the tiger wood stain.

Here's how this coffee table turned into this: