Friday, April 17, 2015

Cabinet Makeover.......


I do a lot of work with essential oils, herbal tinctures, herbal teas and so on... and I need cabinet space for them. I like a cabinet that isn't very deep for this and have been watching Craigslist for the last year and not finding what I wanted.




 Finally, last year, I found a cabinet that would work, but it needed to be set on something. The only thing I had was an old vanity table, so we attached the two together and I have used it ever since. It has been helpful, but I really wanted to have a base cabinet that would give storage also. The vanity table worked, but not the way I wanted it to and the underside of it just seemed to collect... stuff.  :(

I began praying for a different base cabinet and searching Craigslist, thrift stores, garage sales and so on.  I looked for many months, but the only possibilities I found were gone too fast and so they obviously weren't for me..... and there were only a couple of those. For the most part, I didn't find anything that would even work for what I wanted..


Finally, I came across this cabinet.... I like this style of cabinet and though not exactly what I wanted, it seemed that it would work. 
My husband and son went to buy it for $25.00.

 My husband called me to tell me the doors were warped... that wasn't stated in the ad and it wasn't obvious from the pictures. He did go ahead and buy it anyway for $20.00. I figured it would work ....  When he got home, I saw that the doors really are warped, but it will work until I find something better.

This is the idea.... to put it under this top cabinet. I had found the top cabinet over a year ago... I had looked so diligently to find it... these types of cabinets are very difficult to find in my area... I know that for sure as I have watched carefully for them.

Anyway, the top cabinet will fit on the bottom one...


As you can see in the top cabinet, I have a lot of jars and bottles in there....


The new cabinet is just a bit deeper than the top cabinet, which I like since that will help it to be stable.  This is really important to me... my collection of essential oils, tinctures and more.. represent quite a bit of money and I do not want to lose any of them... or injure anyone either, by a cabinet falling over.  :)

I decided to try to stain the cabinet to make it closer in color, to the top cabinet. After looking, I realized that I only had less than half of a can of stain... a little tiny can.   It was a color that would work, though, so I started on it.


 Since the cabinet was unfinished, the stain just soaked in so fast... and the color seemed to be okay for what I needed.  This was a minwax stain so it left a bit of a sheen on the cabinet also, which I liked.


It was quite a difference....


Again, you can see the difference... stained and unstained.... I really like the stained side much better than the unstained one.

Seeing this picture made me realize that I will also need to stain the inside of the cabinet.

The backing of the cabinet inside has a lot of red in it, which really showed up after staining.

I DO like this little cabinet... I can picture old linens or lace draped over the doors while other linens are stored on the shelves.

 Hmmmmm... but that will have to wait. For now this will be for herbs and tinctures. :)


I took a shelf from the cabinet I already had and brought it down to the garage where I was staining... I was hoping they would match a bit.

It's not perfect, but it sure isn't bad either.  It will definitely work!  :)

We have small L-brackets holding the upper and lower cabinets together, just as we did when it was on the vanity table. The top fits perfectly on the bottom... exactly.  I was disappointed as it looks top-heavy now and the bottom cabinet really needs to be at least a couple of inches wider, but it is MUCH better than the vanity table, so we are using it this way for now... until I find a cabinet that will work even better.

I DO like the lower cabinet, though, and look forward to using it in other ways in the house, once it is no longer needed here. So, I will keep looking for these types of cabinets.  :)  They really are hard to find... it is easier to find the big deep armoire-type cabinets, but that isn't what I need.... so, I have decided to buy every shallow cabinet I find that is a good price, if I have the money on hand... if it ends up not to be what I can use, I can always sell it.  I decided this a year ago, and these two are the ONLY ones I have found with intense searching.... of course, I am looking only at the cheaper ones... I am not willing to pay hundreds of dollars. :) 

The top cabinet works well, but I had to pay quite a bit for it... much more than I wanted to pay, but I was getting desperate to have my essential oils and tinctures in a cabinet where they were visible and usable. I think I paid $45 or so for it, but it was the ONLY thing I could find.  After it was home, we realized it was an IKEA cabinet.

I hope to put fabric or lace behind the glass in the doors, but haven't done that yet. I will be doing future posts on organizing my essential oils and so on. I hope you will keep visiting my blog.... and I love hearing from you in the comments.







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30 comments:

  1. I too have a lot of essential oils, and have been wondering how best to store them. I enjoyed your re-do of this cabinet. Sometimes things don't work just perfectly, but making do is always fun too! I love restoring furniture as well, and find that sometimes a new coat of stain or paint makes all the difference in something. Now that yard sale season is here, perhaps you will be able to find something a bit bigger for your bottom storage area. I found a similar cabinet to the one you just found, and use it for all my devotional books, and keep it by my rocking chair, where I have my morning devotions, and it keeps my favorite books handy , and easily accessible for reference. This might be a future use for your cabinet, once you find the "perfect" one for your oils. Come visit me at my blog when you can (just click on my name). Have a blessed and wonderful day!

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    1. Essential oils are a blessing.... and they are so much easier to use now that they are visible and organized. :) The cabinet is working well and I am so glad God provided it. :) Thank you for visiting... and I will be over to see you. :)

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  2. oh that is lovely, lucky you on finding such bargain :) if the doors are too badly warped maybe remove them and add lace curtains instead? and hang them on one of those bendy curtain rod thingys that you normally get for net curtains?

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    1. Thank you... yes, it is nice to have it... I have been considering putting different doors on, but I think these will be okay... they are warped, but the worst is at the bottom and I think they will be ok.... The curtain rod idea is great also... I tend to change things now and then, so it'll be interesting to see how this eventually turns out. :) For now, I am so thankful to have the cabinet. :)

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  3. I love those cabinets and you did such a good job of making that one more workable. I am sure you did that at a fraction of the price of a new cabinet. Well done.
    Kathleen
    Fridays Block Booster Party

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    1. Thank you... yes, I did save a lot of money on it... and if I decide to do something different, I could always sell the cabinet... but I like it enough, I think that bottom section will become my linen cabinet for old linens if I find something different for the bottom. I like it a lot... :) Thank you for visiting.

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  4. I think it is nice that you were able to find a cabinet that was the perfect size to match the cabinet above. You did a great job of refinishing it. What a great way to store essential oils. The ideas about curtains would be nice for changing things up when your ready.

    Thanks for stopping by to share on Friday Features this week. Hope you enjoy your weekend!!
    Karren
    xoxo

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    1. I have waited and waited for this cabinet... it was such a blessing to find it. :) I pray about things like this... and then wait for God to answer. I'm so glad He provided this one... and I like having my oils/herbs more accessible. I don't know WHEN I will get those curtains in the cabinet, but I really want to... people who are in our home sometimes look at that cabinet w/ some suspicion as if wondering WHAT it is I do with all of those bottles. :)

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  5. What a great idea! It looks functional and right At home now.

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    1. Thank you... It sure works much better than the vanity table did also.... AND I have somebody who wants to buy that vanity table, so that is good also. :) I am really liking the whole cabinet.

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  6. It's beautiful! It works together seamlessly and looks like it was part of the original piece all along!

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    1. Thank you... I do like how it turned out. :) What a blessing to have a plan come together. :)

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  7. It looks fabulous! I admire your perserverance with, what I am sure, was a labor of love and time!

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    1. Thank you... what a sweet comment you made! :) It took time and labor, but it worked out quite well... and I am so glad to get that off of my list. :)

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  8. Fabulous makeover, my dear! The two pieces look like they were made for each other :)

    Thank you for sharing with Roses of Inspiration. Hugs to you!

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    1. Thank you! Isn't wonderful how God leads us to just the right thing... in the right price range?! :) I am so glad to have it.

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  9. Looks great together! Visiting today from Wednesday's Wisdom.

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    1. Thank you... they did turn out to work well together. :)

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  10. How wonderful to have finally found something that looks like it was made to go with your shelf, the stain is perfect!

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    1. I agree!! I was certainly wearying of looking... and it was such a blessing to find this. The vanity table kept the other cabinet off the floor, but it really wasn't helpful as storage. So nice to have it done and in use again. :)

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  11. Oh, I would love to have something like this to store our tinctures and essential oils! What a blessing. The problem here is that our home is small and I wouldn't have a place to put it. Right now they are kept in our pantry. Thank you for sharing this frugal cabinet idea with us! :) You always have great ideas!

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    1. It is hard to find a good place to store them... they are little and need to be easily accessible... I had them in my cupboard, but had to pull all of them out to find what I wanted... this helps so much for me... but I could stand to have more room for them. :) I had to shop so long for this cabinet and I am so thankful for it. Thank you for visiting - it is always so nice to hear from you. :)

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  12. Hi! Dropping by from Sincerely, Paula's Linky party (#90). The new cabinet definitely matches the top cabinet better despite the top being a biiiit top heavy. You did a great job staining it! I'm also looking for a cabinet like the top one you have to place snacks in the kitchen. Now they're on a tray and they collect dust so fast!

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    1. This kind of cabinet is wonderful for so many things... snacks is a great idea. :) Thank you for visiting... I really do like this cabinet better now.. it is much more useful. :)

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  13. It looks great! You did a great job with the color match!

    Thanks for linking up with Green Thumb Thursday! I hope you'll join us again this week!

    ~Lisa

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    1. Thank you... I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. :) I'm glad you visited.... and I sure appreciate your blog party. :)

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  14. You really did a great job matching the cabinets! Thanks for sharing @Vintage Charm!

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    1. Thank you... I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it worked and I love using it. :)

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  15. Hi Joy,
    Thanks for bringing you post to last week's Pit Stop.
    Janice, Pit Stop Crew

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