For my birthday earlier this week I was gifted this little gem of a curio cabinet from my parents. It’s an adorable piece with lovely details. It has a faux mahogany finish on the shelves but as you may or may not be able to tell, the back panel hasn’t been finished to the same standard and the shelves are chipped here and there. But my question – do I paint it or leave it as it is? To my surprise, my parents immediately suggested “it would look lovely painted black!“. I was surprised by their suggestion considering they’re forever trying to steer me away from black to, well, practically any other colour in existence. So when they suggested I paint it black I was pleasantly surprised.
What pretell will I be filling said cabinet with? I mentioned a little while ago making the move to becoming a Level Nine Crazy Cat Lady by having a collection of Sylvanian Families kitties. As it happens, I got not one, but TWO SYLVANIAN KITTY FAMILIES for my birthday and I was so excited that I cried [they’re just so cute and I get emotional over cute stuff. Please don’t judge me]. I can’t wait to fill my cabinet with them. And for all our future visitors think I’m insane.
So what do you think? To paint or not to paint? We’re expecting a lot of rain this weekend [yay] so a little painting project could justify being indoors all weekend. Now I can’t stop thinking of its gothic potential!
As for my birthday; Robert surprised me with a stay at Powerscourt Hotel for the last night of my 20’s [seriously fancy], then on my birthday we ate black forest gateau, played Cards Against Humanity [thank you again, Kimberly!], drank way too much sangria and spent the day in inappropriate levels of hysterics. It was amazing.
That is possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen…I want one. I like it as it is, but I would do something with the back, I have a small 30's/40's (?) drinks cabinet that has a similar look to it and it has gold floral material covering the back panel, which I love! It would also look pretty fabulous painted black though 😉
p.s: cards against humanity is the greatest game ever created, I've made instant friends based just on their reaction to it…did you know there are Disney add-on cards? 😉
WHAT! I didn't know they have add-ons! Oh now this changes everything. CAH is an amazing game and we played it for the first time with my family (we're a very open family so it worked out hilariously). The most unexpected part was my parents giving possibly the best answers possible. Just hysterics.
Your drinks cabinet sounds gorgeous. I'm thinking of updating the hardware on the cabinet to a gold pull and hinges at the very least! I had thought about maybe backing it with wallpaper, and I looked at loads online, but I just can't decide. I'm forever undecided on wallpaper. Welp.
It's always the ones you don't expect in CAH, and it's so fantastic when a person you thought was going to storm out in indignation really gets into it 😀
Would you consider doing a fabric then since you could just staple it on and it would be easy to remove? I think the wood would look really pretty with gold hardware and a bit of interest at the back, but then, I'm all about the look of wood at the moment, I think I over-did it with the painting 😉
Kimberly mentioned putting velvet on the back board and now I can't get it out of my head! I had been thinking a lot about your fabric suggestion but I wasn't sure what way to go. But velvet. Gold stars all round for you and Kimberly. Now I just to get my act together and do it!
Yes I totally agree with MD&D. Totally paint it. Black would beautifully frame whatever print or colour you put inside it. The trick will be picking something that doesn't detract from whatever you are going to put inside. Very cute gift.
You hit the nail on the head, Pat! I'm going to have my little collection of kitties inside, and I'm worried whatever colour I paint / wallpaper the inside will take away from my silly little collection. For the moment, I'm thinking all black. I can always repaint the back if it's too much.
Ooooh, I can't decide! I think I do agree with the general consensus – leave the wood as it is, but paint the back black, which will show up the kitties nicely. And put gold hardware on – that'll look good. I guess once you've done that, you could always paint the whole thing black another time if you decide you don't like that look, and you've not really lost anything! xx
I really like that plan, and it's something I'm thinking of doing – updating it in stages and see where I'm happiest the most. I'm really hesitant to paint the whole thing black right away. At the moment I'm thinking of staining it / touching it up and then I'll take it from there. I usually can't wait to paint over haggard wood, but not this one, so I'm taking my time. Good thinking, Milesy.
What a gorgeous little cabinet!! And even better thinking it's gonna be filled with KITTEHS. Yussss. I'm thinking paint it black and then line the back with cranberry velvet?? I'm sure whatever you decide will be fantastic 😉 Yay CAH! We played it a few weeks ago with some open minded friends and we were all in hysterics! I love that you played it with your family (man that would so never happen in mine! lol). And that cake – OHMYGOD. I want to stick my face in that right now xxx
OH HELL NO.
How do you do this, Kimberly? You walk in here and you just drop the word velvet all caszh and then I'm done. An actual game changer. I'm going to have to rethink this. I was mildly contemplating wallpaper, but then you came in here with velvet.
Mind = blown.
I have the same thing. someone found it at a yard sale and bought it for me. I have been debating refinishing it and just today I started thinking about painting it…
I ended up painting it black some time ago (you can see it here). I've been doubting my choice lately as I'm really liking the look of dark woods, but then I see what our cabinet looked like originally (not great finish, chipped and cheapy looking), and then I'm glad I painted it.
Let me know what you end up doing with yours, Artie!