I've had this vintage gun cabinet forever. I think I got it way back in 2012. I found it at a garage sale and it was just $6.00 😮
I remember I was with my mom and she questioned my sanity at the time, haha! (Not the first time I'm sure!)
But I had a vision of making it into a small curio cabinet. I did just that and have loved it ever since. It has spent time holding my knick-knacks and tchotchkes in my bedroom, the dining room, and most recently, the laundry room.
My style back then was more farmhouse although, I don't think "farmhouse style" was really a thing yet back then. My style has evolved now into what I just call eclectic. It's a little bit farmhouse, a little bit boho, and a little bit of everything else!
Many of you know that my boyfriend and I purchased a fixer-upper house back in December and we've been in the process of cleaning out both of our previous houses and combining our things. This gun cabinet made the cut but I wanted to give it another makeover to fit our style.
Upcycled Gun Cabinet
Now, I would love to share that first makeover but, several years ago I lost a whole bunch of my blog posts and sadly the first makeover of this cabinet was one that was lost.
But, I did find a before picture of it!
Can you see now why my mom may have thought I'd finally gone over the furniture flip edge?! 😂
For that first makeover, it was sanded and painted light grey, the drawer handles were replaced with braided jute pulls that I made, I removed the old gun holders inside and made shelves with pine boards, and I used a razor blade to scrape off the ducks and clouds on the glass but I left the cattails, I loved them then and I still love them now!
Here is what it looked like when I finished that first makeover.
I am loving the natural wood furniture trend that is having a moment right now and I also love black furniture so I combined the two trends and gave this bad boy another makeover! I created a video of the makeover this time around, I hope you enjoy it!
Here is the before of this second makeover.
It still has the piece on the bottom that would have held the gun stocks. I left it because it also acts as a doorstop. You can see how I added shelf pegs for the new shelves in the first makeover.
I apologize for the bad pictures ahead, these are screenshots from the video.
I used Satin Black by Behr to paint the entire cabinet except for the drawer and door fronts.
Then I sanded the grey paint off the door and drawer. I paid special attention to the edges when I was sanding. I wanted a more worn, rounded look to the door... like it's been around for a hundred years.
I love the variations in wood tone. I could have probably kept sanding to get it all the same but I decided not to.
You can see the rounded edges here, they were very angled and straight before.
I opted to spray paint the old hinges black rather than trying to find something new that would work.
Once I had given the whole thing two coats of paint, I reassembled it.
Here is the gun cabinet's second makeover! I found the black iron cup pulls for the drawer at Hobby Lobby.
I did not do anything else to the raw wood. I will probably use some salve of some sort to protect it but I don't want to change the color of the wood so I haven't done anything yet.
Now comes the most fun part... decorating it!
I struggle with shelf decor for some reason, you'll see some of that indecisiveness and struggle in the video.
But I finally got it and love how it looks!
It was very hard to photograph it with the door closed because of the reflection on the glass.
Everything in it and on top was thrifted except for the concrete heart in the hand. You can see that DIY project here: DIY Faux Concrete Hearts.
When I shared the sneak peek on my Facebook page someone mentioned that it could be used for quilt storage. I love that idea but I only have one quilt and the shelves are very narrow so it would be hard to fold it to fit. The narrow shelves are also why I chose not to put books inside.
I think this goes to show that if you love a certain furniture piece you can always make it work in your decor. This would be cute with some fun peel and stick wallpaper in the back too!
I really like your make-over! For the unfinished part, I highly recommend trying Howard's Feed-n-Wax. I've recently discovered it through many furniture restorers on YouTube. You put it on with a brush and the results are amazing.
I really like your make-over! For the unfinished part, I highly recommend trying Howard's Feed-n-Wax. I've recently discovered it through many furniture restorers on YouTube. You put it on with a brush and the results are amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vikki. I have used Howard's before but I'm afraid it will darken it. I may try it in a corner or something and see what happens. :)
DeleteOut of all it's incarnations, this one is my favorite! Awesome transformation Tania.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Me too, although I'm sure there will be more in the future! haha!
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