restoration to beauty
restoration to beauty
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An idea turned into reality.
The journey of restoring an unwanted silky oak cupboard discovered at the local city council Treasure Trove (dump shop) and bringing it back to functional beauty.
Hand restored to be my revamped sewing/craft storage cupboard.
I shared an idea with my husband that maybe my craft room / office could fit another piece of furniture in it - to store my paper/journal craft stash and help me be tidier with my supplies. My growing supplies were on the floor in boxes, all over my large craft table as well as in my existing cupboards in the room. I love messy but it was getting too messy for me.
My craft room/office is a standard size bedroom in a townhouse and already has a built in cupboard with sliding doors as well as another timber cupboard that was full of fabrics, notions, completed journals and ephemera. I'd outgrown my existing storage solutions.
Once my idea was spoken out loud for more storage space, my idea seemed to take on a life of its own.
My husband helped me hunt around town to visit the diminishing number of second hand stores and local council dump shops.
How it started.
Our first stop was the local council dump shop and there were some possibilities I saw. I was limited to the size of what I could bring home - it needed to fit the dimensions of our SUV boot to bring it home.
I saw this particular cupboard and put it on the shortlist of possibilities. It was $80, a good size, in good condition, solid timber, easy to move. The colour was too dark but that is an easy fix.
I actually liked the already painted white cupboard it was next to in the store but couldn't fit it in the car so it was a sad no to that one.
And we kept looking around town over 2 weekends.
Finding inspiration online.
I had a look on Pinterest to see what ideas would suit my existing room, my supplies and aesthetics that felt like my style and function to use.
Here is my inspiration images I found - to keep this in my mind on the continuing search.
Credit to the original owner of these images I found on Pinterest.
Where are all the second hand furniture stores?
We searched a few more places with disappointment - not a disappointment that I couldn't find what I wanted - I love the hunt and was prepared to take as much time as I needed to find the right item. I was disappointed that the number of second hand stores around town selling decent timber furniture was diminished from what I remember.
I remember the day when second hand furniture was much easier to find. The feel of the big charity chains in our city now has changed - it's not the same as it once was and they don't seem to accept as much decent furniture as they used to. The independent furniture thrift stores are few and far between.
After visiting all the available thrift stores we could find and be bothered to drive to - we went back to see if my little timber cupboard was still there and woo hoo it was (the dump shop is only open on weekends).
The universe must have known it had my name on it.
This following weekend we returned to the store, they had a 50% sale so the cupboard cost me $40.00 to purchase and some grunt and loud words exchanged with husband to fit it securely in the back of our SUV and tie down the boot door to travel home with it.
Below are a few pictures of the transformation process.
It took my husband and I full days for several days (like a full time job) to sand the stain from the outside, strip the stain to help with the sanding process, a few trips to Bunnings, make new shelves, find and buy the right sized storage tubs and all the other fiddly parts of furniture restoration. I forgot how long restoration actually takes and enjoyed every minute of it anyway.
I felt the urge to bring some natural beauty to this piece.
It will be one of my craft storage cupboards so wanted to expand my creative process of decor design and do something I considered 'grand'. I have another cupboard I bought and restored decades ago which is similar in design to this new one, but painted white.
I searched online for ideas and came across images of restored furniture with gorgeous images and paint finishes. I considered doing some decoupage and then came across furniture decor transfers.
The more I looked into it, the more I fell in love with the gorgeous images of beautiful bespoke furniture.
I was able to source a local supplier (actually my husbands google fingers found the supplier) of re-design with Prima. I loved all the options and it took me some time to settle on the transfer I chose - to go with the colour of the raw timber and not be 'too loud' with colour. Muted tones for a floral design are what I settled on and thankfully were available in store.
We patiently applied the floral transfers (and with some lessons learned) to wrap around one side of the cupboard then gave it a good feed and nourish with natural furniture wax that I've literally had for I think decades. The beeswax still wafts a gentle scent now the cupboard has been placed in its final destination in my room - for now.
This is how it turned out.
I LOVE IT!!!
My craft room/office got a good reshuffle and my cupboards also got a re-organising.
Surprisingly with this additional cupboard in my room, I seem to have more floor space and the room feels more spacious.
I loved the process of restoring this piece with my husband and can't seem to stop staring at it when I'm in my room. I have more and more ideas of what other items of furniture in my room (and home) I could spruce up and bring some beauty and glamour.
The target draws the bow.
I'm still surprised at how quickly this all came together, it was as if this project was waiting for me to declare it into my reality - like a target drawing the bow instead of the other way around.
It was the first cupboard that fit the criteria of possibilities.
It was on sale for a bargain.
The size of the cupboard was perfect to fit in the car and in my room.
The 2 of us could easily lift and manoeuvre it - even up a flight of stairs to our second story where my room is.
My husband was on holidays (end of year break) so we actually had time to restore this together within a week before he went back to work.
The decor transfers were found within a day of discovering the concept and a local supplier which was at my favourite local antique store a few suburbs away.
The storage tubs seemed to be out of stock at most of my local stores but we managed to find a store with the right number of last stock on the shelves.
It all came together quite easy and in a timely manner. Why did I expect it to be more difficult?
All in all, from a possible half considered idea spoken out loud to actual reality - it took 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure that is what we call ''manifestation'' - in record time.
Maybe I should speak my ideas out loud more and see what comes to life.
xo K
January 2025
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