The first, and biggest, of our up-cycling projects is now finished. Below is the original piece of furniture we sourced from a local second hand shop.

Paul took the glass out of the top cupboards, and removed all the wooden knobs and hinges. Because it’s such a large piece it needed to be done in sections. First he sanded the top of the bottom section, and used a good polyurethane to coat the wood finish. Then he painted on a few coats of good quality undercoat to the base and top sections, and finally applied a couple of top coats of semi-gloss white enamel. He used a brush on some parts, and a small roller on other places so as to avoid brush marks. First the base was finished and put into place.

You’ll notice the power points on the wall above this section. He carefully measured where this would sit into the top section and using a jig saw, cut out a section in the top to allow access to the power point before commencing painting that part. We’d decided we wanted flat black handles and hinges on the finished article. Paul decided he’d try painting the existing knobs and hardware first to see how it’d look rather than buying new handles. He purchased a spray can of black undercoat. The knobs were easy to paint. For the hinges he held them up to spray, then used the hooks that we use for putting our Christmas decorations on the tree, and he hung them on the clothes line for the paint to dry. He use and old piece of wood to screw the tips of all the screws into, and spray painted all the screws too.

The top section was completed and put into place making space in the garage for the doors and drawers to be completed. I delightedly placed all my glasses and some small pieces of china in the top section, and loads of bits and pieces in the bottom section. These items have been all over the place, higgledy-piggledy, wherever I could find a space for a few items. It’s wonderful to now have them altogether.

The cut out section for the power point was perfectly placed (he’s a clever man, my Paul), and our IPad used for music sits beautifully in front of it. Yesterday the bottom cupboards went on, and today I came home from my ladies walking group to find it finished completely.

What a difference, it’s barely recognisable as the same piece of furniture.

I think we paid about $350 for the piece including delivery. The paint would have cost less than $50, and it’s good, semi-gloss washable enamel. Yes, it took a couple of weeks to complete with many hours of work put in, but we now have a piece we’ll take pleasure in for a long time to come. If we had bought a piece similar to this all shiny and new, we wouldn’t love it half as much as this piece that we’ve seen transform beneath our very eyes. I love it!