Taking an old thrifted piece of furniture and freshening it up is one of our favorite types of makeovers. Which is why we’ve enjoyed Tanis’ china cabinet project so much (and no, not just because it involved painting it white). Check out the beautiful transformation that she and her husband recently achieved:
A friend of mine introduced me to your blog and I’ve been hooked ever since! The love of my life and I bought our first house in May, and then 3 weeks later we got married! We’ve just started tackling a few DIY projects around the house and are particularly proud of this one: a china cabinet makeover to display our special wedding china (you can read more about why it’s so meaningful to us here).
The entire piece was washed, sanded, primed and then painted a semi-gloss pure un-tinted white. Then we wallpapered the back with a textured wallpaper from the Debbie Travis collection and painted it ‘Aegean Blue’ by Martha Stewart. I have to admit, I am beyond pleased with the result! It took a lot of elbow grease, but it was worth it!
We’re looking forward to many years of wedded bliss and many more DIY projects to tackle together. Thanks for the inspiration! – Tanis at Tanis Fiber Arts
Isn’t that blue painted wallpaper such an incredibly elegant accent? We love that Tanis and her new hubby jumped in there and fearlessly made that dated china cabinet their own. What do you guys think? Will anyone else out there be following in their very stylish footsteps?
Monique says
This is really great! I love the creative textured wallpaper idea!
Karla @ {The Classy Woman} says
It turned out lovely! What a difference some paint, wallpaper and the removal of hardware can make. It is so pretty!
Jenny says
Love this, Tanis! How long *did* it take to complete?
Wellies says
WOW! This cabinet came out gorgeous! I love the blue wallpaper!
This would be perfect in my dining room!!
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Sarah says
What a great idea with the wall paper! I love furniture make overs, they are my fav! :) I love getting inspiration for what we could do with some of our older pieces.
Snickrsnack Katie says
That is gorgeous! I have started to become a bit obsessed with all things white since I started reading your blog – which is odd for me because I was always into all things DARK. All my furniture has always been dark wood, dark fabric. On the hunt for something like this myself!!! Very neat to see this overhaul. LOVE the wallpaper.
Jessica @ How Sweet says
This makes me want to paint my dining room furniture white!
hi-d says
I love these kinds of transformations! So inspiring!
Lauren says
I know this wasn’t one of your project, but do you have any advice for painting textured wallpaper? The previous owners left us a white, wallpapered bathroom, but the paper is textured with a leaf pattern. I’m very tempted to paint right over it to keep the pattern, but wasn’t sure how it would turn out…
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lauren,
We don’t recommend painting over old wallpaper (as opposed to removing it) because it can bubble and peel. It’s definitely not a shortcut, so in the end it’s best to strip off the old paper and then paint. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Kat says
The painted wallpaper idea is brilliant! What a great transformation!!!
Lianna says
Wow, that is gorgeous! I love that they painted the wall paper.
Kristen says
What an amazing transformation! I think white paint is magical… it can spruce almost anythign up!
Amber says
Very pretty, brought back to life to be enjoyed for years to come.
Jen at Fresh Crush says
OOH Tanis!! I used this same wallpaper on my own china cabinet project last year — I was so excited to see it in your project. Great job!! and FANTASTIC colour choice! It is so fresh and airy, and clean! Here is my cabinet if you wanna take a peek:
http://freshcrush.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/before-after-buffet-cabinet/
Christin says
LOVE IT!!!
christa says
what awesome china!
Kate says
Very nice job! I’ve always loved the china hutch makeovers everyone has been doing, they look so nice. I might tackle one once we have a house and a place to put a hutch.
Mandy says
What a great way to freshen and update that piece, I LOVE it and now want to find a china cabinet to do something like this myself!
Kim says
Stunning!!! I get so inspired by all of these projects!!!! I can’t wait to have a new place to tackle something like this myself!
AbraCat says
Wow, fantastic result!
Amy (Sing For Your Supper) says
OH…MY…GOSH! So freaking CUTE!!! This makes me want to redo everything in my house!! So glad I found you!! :)
Lindsay says
I love this look! Fantastic! I’d love to have the room in my dining room to get a fabulous china cabinet like this!
Tiffany says
Wow that turned out amazing! I want to do that in my house now!
XOXO,
http://outfitidentifier.com/
Redlilocks {Swoon Worthy} says
Absolutely stunning and I am not normally a fan of gold but wow, I LOVE the china… gorgeous! Nice job :)
Loren says
I am not normally a fan of china cabinets (or having special occasion china) But this is wonderful.
I love that the blue paint picks up the blue accents in the pattern.
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
Gorgeous!!! Love it all. Great job.
Jocelyn Stott says
This is a GREAT re-do. I love everything about it. Oh my…I CANNOT wait until we have enough $$$ to buy a house so I have the room to do this!!!
Anna J. says
Any tips for sanding into all the nooks and crannies of wood pieces like this. Some of the spaces are so small and hard to get to around the edges. (I’m working on sanding down a buffet and the grooves on the doors are a pain!)
This is beautiful by the way!
YoungHouseLove says
Our tip would be to do your best and use hood oil based primer to grab the paint and create a durable base. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Melenie says
So beautiful, I’m itching to go to a thrift store just to see what I can paint.
Camberley, The Bella Life says
I’ve been helping my sister in-law move/decorate her new house. As we rummage through her old decor I keep saying “hold on to that, all we need to do is re-paint it.” I sound like a broken record.
Based on the above post… I rest my case.
-C
kara says
I’m curious how the washing and sanding went on the detailed areas? Was the sanding done by hand? Ignored? This is always my stopping point when I am looking at refinishing a piece of furniture, if its too detailed how will I sand it down? But your project is giving me new hope.
Cait @ Hernando House says
This is gorgeous! We are going to be tackling our own hutch soon, and I’ve been wanting to paint the inside blue. Now we just have to pick what blue, haha!
emily @ the happy home says
holy cow. that’s such a glamorous transformation! so modern, but as soon as you peek the trimmings on the breakfront, it gets a nice base in tradition.
and i also want to know– where did they get that china?! it’s beautiful
LadyBirdBerson says
Love it! Congratulations! I’ve always been kind of afraid that I would inherit my grandmother’s old dining room set, and how do you say no to that? Now at least I know I can turn it into something that we’ll love for miles down the road.
Ashley Stinson says
GORGEOUS!!!! My husband and I have a buffet and hutch that we want to redo and I would love if it turned out JUST LIKE YOURS! :)
Janna says
Great timing for this post! This morning I started working on redoing a old corner china cabinet I resued from my sister’s yard sale. I hadn’t even thought of using textured paintable wallpaper – I can’t wait to try it!
Lisa says
I love it! We’ve been looking for a white china cabinet for a while now but not willing to tackle painting. I think this just put me over the edge. I can do this!
Thank You!
lucia says
Hi! I meet your blog some days, love your house and your works!! Just love decorating and recycling is my second love (after my child, course).
Great work!!
By the way your baby is just so cute!!!!! Congratulaitions!
Sorry for my English… Im new at this things.
Viv says
What a nicely redone piece. We decided to keep the bottom of our 1980 specimen because the height and width are perfect as a base for a flat screen TV. That means we got rid of our top. I put it on Craigslist for $50 and someone called right away and came right over. He was going to refurbish it as a snake house. The oak and brass would give it a classy look and the built-in light made it ideal. I was happy it went to a good home, but still have a little shiver thinking about it.
Ana says
Love it! Great job!
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
WOW, that looks so great!!!! Nice job.
Amanda @ longroadset says
This gives me a great idea for a simliar project I have yet to figure out.
I’ve got two old entertainment center shelfing units that are in bad shape, and we’re wanting to turn them into something more. :) Thanks for the wonderful idea, and you did a FABULOUS job!
Erica says
Oh my gosh this is fabulous! I love white furniture, and that aqua teal is my favorite color. Lovely lovely lovely!
Pam says
Love how the pattern on the china mimics the pattern on the wallpaper. Both are beautiful. Nice job!
alison@semi-fab lane says
so, so pretty! the wallpaper really set this piece off!
Martha says
Seconds after I read this post I sent the link to the husband, along with a couple craigslist links. By the time the day was over he had negotiated a deal on a hutch and is picking it up this morning.
I did not expect this level of enthusiasm, but I’ll take it! Hopefully we end up with a cool hutch out of the deal. :-)
Allison K says
Love this! I need to bookmark this post to show it to my husband. He has an aversion to white furniture. We recently salvaged an old dresser from the donation pile, when my in-laws moved out of their house. We have plans to make it into a buffet for our dining room. It’s old like this china cabinet, and dark brown. Which would be great, except we have chocolate brown walls in our dining room. A crisp white would be perfect! Now i just have to convince the hubs!
Sarah M says
Love it! I’ve been making monthly onesies for all my preggo friends for years now. I purchase plain white onesies in various sizes as I find them on sale and then purchase iron transferable printer paper at Target or Walmart and mirror image print my designs. I have a set already created for boys, girls and neutrals. It’s a quick, unique and fun baby shower gift and my friends always send me the pictures of their little ones on their monthly birthdays!
I just wish I had thought of the idea for my own twins!
Sarah M says
Crap! I posted on the wrong post! Sorry- mine goes with the baby photos. :)
laura Durrer says
Great job on the cabinet! I did something very similar myself a couple years ago and i just blogged about it at http://www.oliveandlove.com/2010/07/china-hutch-furniture-evolution.html
I’ve been considering adding a color to the background inside….what do you think?
YoungHouseLove says
We say go for it! A pop of color is always fun!
xo,
s