Castoff Becomes Shabby Chic Cabinet

One day, we saw an old cabinet thrown out beside the road.... a castaway put out for trash.  One door was totally off and broken so much that it was completely unusable. The back panels were loose or off. It was not in good shape. Since we really needed a cabinet at the time, and had no money for one, my husband consented to go to pick it up with our boys.

My husband was reluctant and was sure I wouldn't be able to do anything with it.... like I said, it was in pretty rough condition.  I regret that I don't have any pictures of it when we first brought it home.

I am quite creative and not afraid to take on a difficult project, but I was a bit overwhelmed with this one. The door (the left one as you are facing the cabinet), was in several pieces and we weren't even sure that all of the pieces were there.

A glue gun is such a wonderful invention, so I got that out... and a lot of long glue sticks.... also some paints and fabric.

First, we tried to piece the door together - one of my sons helped me with the project - he was probably about 12 or so at the time. After some trial and error, we realized that all of the major pieces of the door were there, BUT there would be areas where the damage was so big, that it would be pretty ugly, but we just put it together the best we could. The damage was ugly... Hmmm, what to do.....

I finally figured out that a cutout of the fabric would cover most of the damage, if I did it just right. So The bottom fabric section on the left door, covers some broken wood... and a LOT of hot glue. Then I made matching pieces for the other side....

The people who owned it before me, had apparently whitewashed it a bit... and then stenciled bright purple flowers.... and bright green leaves.... it was way too bright and gaudy for me.

  I experimented and finally used some white stencil paint to paint over the stencils a couple of times.... and was able to tone down the bright purple and green.

 The doors had purple and white gingham fabric that was faded and discolored, so after ripping it out, I replaced it with some floral upholstery fabric. I used hot glue to hold it in place and gathered it as I went.

I really loved the curve of the top of the cabinet... and of the doors... and felt this cabinet was worth trying to save.

 Here you can see one of the cracks in the door.... there were many. Some of the cracks were so bad and there was so much wood missing, that I filled it with wood skewers and filled in hot glue around them to hold it all together. My son and I laughed about all of the glue we put on/in that door. I don't know how many of those long glue sticks I used, but it was a lot of them. :)

You can also see some of the stencil that I toned down w/ white paint.

 The one crack came all the way from the top and went down the door... you can see a bit of it here.  The flower medallion is there to help hide the damage....

The back of the cabinet was off in places and that had to be nailed and screwed into place, which also helped to stabilize the cabinet.

 The inside didn't have shelves when we got it, so my husband cut a couple and later on we added another.

This cabinet was my sewing, craft, and more cabinet for years... and it was packed. It held a lot of stuff.... and made it look pretty. :) It was a "Shabby Chic" style, which fit well in our home.

By the way, one day I sold an item on Craigslist and listed it as "Shabby Chic". When a lady called about it, he asked her if she was interested in the Shabby Chick item. She laughed and laughed... and we all enjoyed the humor of it and my husband and I still laugh about it.... it was a new term for him at that time.  :)

 The amount of money I had to put out to repair/rebuild/re-do this cabinet was.............. zero!  I had the fabric, lots of glue sticks and paint already on hand. The wood for the shelves was from plywood we had saved in the garage, in case we needed it.

This project turned out so nicely.... and we were pleased with it... and even my husband liked to show it off when we had company.

The funny thing is that the fabric I used to cover up the problems... to hide the damage.... became a major part of the appeal of this cabinet.  The cabinet would not be nearly as nice without the fun design on it..... and it was only there because it needed to cover something up. The original plan for the cabinet worked for the people who had it before us, but needing to repair the damage led to a real beauty being allowed to shine from this cabinet. Also, the extremely damaged door became strong in the repair and worked well.

I am reminded that God does that with our lives... we have damage.... we need to be repaired.... we have been cast off by others, yet God sees a way to make us into something special.... and His plan is perfect. He can turn what would have been "ugly" into something beautiful... and we can trust Him... the question is.... will we?  His plan will lead to beauty in a life that we could never plan out by ourselves. He can work in our lives to create beauty.... and even strength.

"But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. " Job 23:10
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