China Cabinet Chalk Paint Makeover: Before and After
This Facebook Marketplace find is the most amazing before and after. I did a China Cabinet Makeover using Dixie Belle paint from their New National Parks Collection.
On my blog Living Large in A Small House, I may sometimes use affiliate links, which means a small commission is earned if you purchase via the link. The price will be the same whether you use the affiliate link or go directly to the vendor’s website using a non-affiliate link. You can find my full Disclosure Policy HERE
You, too, can make over a piece of furniture using Dixie Belle Paint. Enter for a chance to win $250 in Dixie Belle products at the end of this post.
This blog post is not just about my furniture makeover. It is also about the pieces that 5 other talented gals are sharing. These ladies are truly professional furniture refinishers. If you visit them, you will have an opportunity to enter the giveaway 5 more times.
Making Over Furniture
Professional furniture refinished is not something that anyone would ever say about me.
I know there is a proper way to prepare and work with furniture pieces to make them resale-worthy. However, my piece will be in a room that hardly anyone will see but me. I also don’t have a lot of time to complete this project.
To say I skipped some common steps is an understatement.
To say my project turned out beautifully is the truest statement, thanks to Dixie Belle Paints.
I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to be a pro to create a beautiful furniture makeover.
A BIG thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Company for sponsoring today’s post.
Creating Storage for My Craft Room
Of course, we have a primary bedroom in our three-bedroom empty-nester home. I created a den/office/guest bedroom in the second bedroom. The third bedroom has a bed for guests and a large craft-appropriate desk, so I decided this would make a perfect craft room/guest bedroom.
Living in a small house requires every room to be multi-purpose.
The same holds true for the furniture in our house. I love it when it is multi-purpose.
I thought that an armoire might be a good piece of furniture for a craft/bedroom. It could potentially house not only extra bedding but also my craft supplies.
I headed straight to Facebook Marketplace and put “armoire” in the search box. What popped up were big, heavy cabinets that used to house TVs in the 1980s and 90s.
While that would provide tons of storage, it would be too big for my space and impossible to get up the stairs to the second floor.
I changed my search to “small hutch” and found some beautiful china cabinets. I liked the Queen Anne style with a pediment header. However, I wasn’t willing to pay the price many were asking.
I waited patiently, and as luck would have it, the next day, one was listed that was the right size and reasonably priced. “Handy” and I jumped in the truck and drove an hour away to get the old china cabinet. It belonged to the mother of the woman who sold it to me. She had passed away, and it had been in her home for many, many years, housing her crystal and china. I love it when there is a story behind my vintage finds. It makes me feel somehow connected.
I couldn’t wait to get it home and give it a fresh new look.
The Details
I knew that using Dixie Belle Paint would be the perfect solution for my craft room project. I’ve used it before to paint the white shelves in my dining room, which used to be black, and they are lovely.
Gathering Supplies
I started by gathering all of my supplies
- White Lighting Cleaner
- Dixie Belle Bonding Boss
- Dixie Belle Chalk Paint – Glacier
- Dixie Belle Chalk Paint – Badland
- Tack Cloth
- Paintbrush
- 4″ roller with a microfiber sleeve
- Paint tray
- Drop Cloth
Prepping My Cabinet
The first thing I did was remove all the doors and hardware from the piece. I also had “Handy” help me pry off the little stops that held some wood fret pieces into the glass doors. While this might seem time-consuming, it actually made painting go smoother. This also allowed me to clean the hardware and brighten it up with rub-n-buff.
Given my time constraints, I didn’t have time to do a lot of prepping, but I cleaned my piece really well with White Lightning Cleaner. Then, I primed the dark wood with two coats of Bonding Boss.
Finishes
After priming with the Bonding Boss I used “Glacier” from the National Park Collection for the exterior of my china cabinet. To add some interest, I painted the inside of the door box and the wood detail in the glass doors with “Badlands.”
Dixie Belle Paint Company gave me all the beautiful colors in the National Park Collection. It was hard to choose what I was going to use. The colors I choose work well with the neutrals in this room.
The transfer collection at Dixie Belle is extensive, and I have the Vintage Floral Collection in stock. I might add a floral transfer to the cabinet doors or the drawer for some whimsy.
I will live with it for a bit before I do that, as I’m so pleased with how it turned out.
Tool Tips
I recently bought a microfiber roller sleeve while painting our living area – Sherwin Williams Color of the Year. What a difference. It holds the paint better, there is no splatter, and the coverage is very consistent. I bought the same microfiber sleeves for my 4″ roller. I used it on the flat surfaces, and it worked great again.
The Hardware
When we removed the hardware, it looked like it had the potential to clean up really well, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Replacing the old with new hardware was an option, but I liked the original style. I pulled out my rub-n-buff, and in a few minutes….. It was beautiful again. I love that stuff.
Styling and Decorating
Having this in the craft/guest bedroom is a great way to store my craft supplies and give me a place to display pretty things. It also can hide extra pillows and blankets in the bottom.
Once the cabinet was finished and I stowed all of my craft supplies away, I was inspired to make the room more cozy by adding vintage frames with photos and art to the walls.
This is a room that inspires me to be creative. I love working in this space.
You Can Do This Too!
It was so exciting to take an old cabinet and give it new life with a few coats of paint. I’m just your average DIYer, and if I can do this, you can too. Enter for a chance to win some Dixie Belle products, and you, too, can get started on transforming your own piece of furniture.
Now for the Fun Giveaway
ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN $250 WORTH OF DIXIE BELLE PRODUCTS. TO ENTER, FOLLOW THE PROMPTS IN THE RAFFLECOPTER BOX BELOW
a Rafflecopter giveawayThe winner will be randomly picked and announced on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 12:00 PM (EST) right here on the blog. The winner has 48 hours to claim their Dixie Belle Giveaway before another winner is selected so be sure to check back. Good Luck to Everyone who enters!
WANT FIVE (5) MORE CHANCES TO WIN!
Below are the BEFORE photos of my talented blogger friends and their National Parks Collection Makeover. Visit the links underneath each BEFORE photo to see their AFTERS and learn how they did it! When you visit their blogs, don’t forget to enter their giveaway.
Denise from Salvaged Inspirations
Cindy from Reinvented Delaware
Christy from Confessions of a Serial DIYer
Peace and Love,
Meet Me
I’m an Interior Designer, Professional Organizer, and Party Planner who lives in the suburbs of Chicago in a 1,300 sq., ft., home with my “Handy” husband, Keith.
I’m an open book about my life on my blog. Find out more about me by tapping the button below.
Thanks for Following Along
If you enjoyed this post, I hope you sign up to be a friend of Living Large in A Small House! Then, you won’t miss any of the inspiration shared with you each week! You can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. I share even more inspiration on Pinterest! You can listen to me chat on my Podcast.
A great way to save this article is to save it to your Pinterest boards. You can find the pin button in the top right corner of the photo below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest
Featured
Web Story
I love the color of your china cabinet makeover. This makes me want to do mine too! It is so pretty.
Thank you Kesha – I’m typically a pure white gal so even these colors were a stretch for me but I absolutely love it.
I love the color of your china cabinet makeover. It makes me want to do mine. It is so pretty!
The Hutch turned out very nice! Glacier and Badlands are my two favorites from Dixie Bells new paint line.
I’m fairly new to your blog, but so glad I found you!!
Hi Karen – I’m so glad you found me. I love all the colors from the collection but I’m a pretty neutral gal and those two colors are perfect together.
Love how your piece turned out. Thanks for the step by step of how you did this.
Hi Brenda –
I’m not a professional like the other ladies in this collaboration but Dixie Belle Paints made it real easy to get a professional look.
I love your work! Beautiful!
Thank you so much Cathy – I’m so glad you’re here.
Love your project! Thanks for sharing great tips.
Thanks Kat – It was a really fun project. So fulfilling to make something old, new again!
I need one of these for my craft/guest room.
Isn’t it the perfect piece. For me it kept the room looking like a guest bedroom and not just a craft room. I love must-functional pieces.
What a beautiful result!
Hi J – Thank you – I love the end result.
Nice job on the china hutch!!! I really like that color!
I think my favorite colors in the new collection are Smokey Mountains and Badlands…
Hi Darlene –
I love all the other colors! These colors were a step out of my comfort zone but I’m happy to report that I love it so much I may get even more adventurous with my next project.
I love how your cabinet turned out! I have a very similar looking one and I would love to paint mine in they same colors as yours.
Hi Kellie –
I’m so happy with how it turned out. If you do paint yours, please let me know how it turned out.
Beautiful job! Love your color choices!
Thank you Vickie – I just love the colors.
I love your work. I am a bit apprehensive about starting a project, such as this. I have done a few smaller projects and want to jump right in to paint an old-fashioned curio cabinet. I like the Glacier color as well. I was leaning to the Sequoia, but now believe the Glacier is a better color for my home.c
Hi Tracey – I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination and I finished this whole project in two days. I chose the colors that were best for my home too but now I’m thinking I could have gone more bold on the inside box. I might just repaint at some point.
Nice project, very practical. Love the new DB colors!
Aren’t they amazing!
Luv the big cabinet. I see these all the time. Gives me a great idea to follow your lead in transforming it.
Hi Donna – I’m so happy I decided to use this type of a cabinet. It is perfect in the space.
This gorgeous piece of furniture looks even better with the two-toned color combination you chose Lynn! It was well worth the hour’s drive to get it! Pinned 🥰
Thanks Cindy – Since I was sticking with the lightest color for the exterior I wanted to do something surprising inside. I’m now thinking I might repaint the inside a more bold color from the collection. Maybe Yellowstone???
Lovely!
Thank you Mary!
Hi, I love your idea of using as a storage piece. Colors are beautiful. Will enjoy reading your blog.
It’s funny now it doesn’t even look like a china cabinet to me now that it’s painted. Thanks for visiting.
The Glacier and Badlands look awesome together – like they were meant to be paired on this china cabinet. A gorgeous makeover and I love the pic with you beside your creation. Pinned! Thanks for joining us in the Giveaway Lynn! 💙
Thank you for asking me to join and thank you for the kind words. What a great experience. I feel so lucky to be involved with all of you talented ladies.
This cabinet is absolutely beautiful! It is light and bright and looks so good in your space! XOXO
It does!!! I’m so pleased with how it turned out.
The color is a beautiful creamy color! I love how it turned out.
It is such a pretty color. Every time I pass by that room I stop in to visit my new cabinet. I’m in love.
Very nicely done! Thank you for sharing the process.
Thank you for being here!
Looks fantastic! Thank you for sharing the process.
Thank you for visiting!
What a wonderful transformation. I’m a neutral kind of gal so I was really happy to see a piece on this tour done in the glacier paint color.
It’s a really pretty color. Hard to describe. It’s kind of grey but not really. I can understand how it became part of this collection. It’s an earthy color. Kind of like a really light clay.
Hello from Idaho! I love your fresh new look. I have a hutch very much like that one, you have made me less afraid to tackle that project.
Hello Idaho! One of the few states that I’ve not been to. I hope I’ve inspired you. It was much easier than I thought. I challenge you to take the plunge!
I wondered how you would paint around that curvy fretwork, then wondered how you removed and replaced it. I love pieces like this, especially when they’re given an important new role to accompany their fresh new look.
Hi Cyndel –
I answered your question in your previous comment. Thanks so much for asking this as it is an important question.
I wondered how you would remove and replace that fretwork! Love these kinds of desks and your makeover — always good when a fresh new look is accompanied by an important new purpose.
Hi Cyndel –
I should have probably covered that more thoroughly. I may go back and add an update to the post. There are little wooden stops in that hold the fretwork and the glass into the door. We just used a putty knife and very carefully pried the stops out. They were nailed in. When I put it back together I was scared I was going to break the glass with nails so I just hot glued them back in. It worked beautifully. It only took me about 10 minutes to reassemble both doors.
Great job. I love the color.
Thanks so much
Oh my goodness, you did an awesome job on the china cabinet. Now, I’ve got to get brave enough to tackle a large job!
Hi Anna –
It was easier than I thought. You can do this!!
I love the way you painted this piece, beautiful update.
Hi Melissa –
I think it turned out great!
Lovely makeover. I would love to try this paint.
It’s great paint to work with!
What a pretty combination of colors!
Thanks so much!
Really love these colors, neutral but not boring.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Victoria
That hutch is adorable. Perfect for your room. Love the contrasting interior. Way to go friend. Now please pick my entry 🤞🤞🤞🤣
Thank you my friend! I loved this project!
This is absolutely lovely! You do beautiful work. Thank you for sharing.
Thank Sherri –
What a great China Cabinet makeover! Love the new light color on it! Pinned!
Thank you Natalie –
What a lovely transformation! I enjoy seeing quality, older furniture given a second chance. Thank you for your inspiration!
Lovely transformation! I enjoy seeing quality, older furniture given a second chance. Those color choices just fit that piece. Thank you for your inspiration!
Thank you Karen
I love the color you chose for your small hutch. I want to paint a bed and 2 nightstands in my guest bedroom and have definitely decided to use Dixie Belle Silk paint. Seeing your finished hutch makes me lean towards using Glacier instead of a stark white color.
I’m a stark white person for sure and this experience has changed my mind about having everything all white. It’s so much more interesting.
This cabinet turned out beautifully.
Thank you – I love it!
It’s so gorgeous
It’s so gorgeous. Amazing job
Thank you Nicole
Can’t wait to try this paint!
It’s a lovely collection!
Congratulations on your great find! The transformation is amazing- great work!!!
Thank you Erin!
I liked the color Glacier that you used the best. It looked wonderful!
Lovely! I’m now thinking about doing this for my china cabinet. Thank you for the tutorial.
I love your Craft Cabinet. Great job!!
This is truly a beautiful piece. I was wanting to see the badlands color on a piece so I am glad you used it! Thank you thank you! I am so glad I found you and started following you!
I just luv the way the cabinet turned out. I have several items I need to get done also. The Dixie Bell looks so easy to use & transform furniture pieces.
Thks so much for all the ideas.
I have a very similar secretary from my Grandmother that would look so much better with some TLC and paint! Yours look lovely.
Looks so much better! Love the color choices!
There are no words…except, BEYOND GORGEOUS. LOVE the Glacier!!! Beautiful job!!
Nice transformation
I love how it turned out Lynn! Beautiful!