Updated curio cabinet

This past weekend we were gifted with some truly horrific weather here in Ireland. However, sometimes it’s nice to have such a solid excuse to stay indoors in your pj’s all day and contemplate striking one item off your never ending list of things to do. I was in such a mood this weekend so I finally rolled up my sleeves and repainted my little curio cabinet the blackest of black. As a reminder, here’s what it looked like up until this weekend … 

Not bad, but not great either. The finish was chipped all over, not to mention most of the panelling had no finish at all [as seen two photos down]. I began by disassembling the entire cabinet. As my dad showed me when it was gifted it to me for my 30th [and suggested in the first place that it be painted], you simply unscrew all the knobs along the top and bottom and that allows the entire piece to be taken apart, and fairly easily.

I laid the cabinet flat on a drop cloth on our dining table and began disassembling it. As I was taking the cabinet apart, I made a quick note of the order in which I took it apart [accompanied by a couple of rough sketches for the fancier pieces whose name I didn’t know. ie – the very top piece I called the tiara bit]. This note came in immensely handy when it came to reassembling the cabinet at the very end as it turned out to be trickier than I thought, even with the list. 

I took the cabinet apart, lightly sanded [in the direction of the grain] each piece, cleaned it with a damp rag and lightly painted two coats of black paint [again, in the direction of the grain]. Since removing it, I have yet to put the glass door back on as I’m in the process of replacing the hinges [I steeped them in coke to remove the rust, but alas, they were beyond repair]. Now that there’s no door, I’m actually kind of liking it. It doesn’t look too out of place sans door either …
Now that it’s painted, my exciting [for me] decision is that I’m hoping to fill it with succulents! Yes! Living things! I was originally going to fill it with my Sylvanian Families cat collection, but I’ve managed to keep a certain succulent alive since I brought it home from Dublin Design Night, so one day I thought how lovely it would look filled with little succulents in glass jars? It would look lovely, past self! And it would make the cabinet seem a bit less … daunting, too. 

I’m not however sold on where the cabinet is now hanging. If I’m to fill it with succulents, hanging it over a storage heater probably isn’t the best start. The cabinet’s also kind of fighting with the white shelf over our TV. It looks not too bad in the above photo, but in real life they look like two grumpy old men having to sit next to one another for the duration of a long bus ride. For now, I’m thinking maybe over my desk would look nice? We’ll see. Chances are, it’ll take another two months for me to make my mind up. 

and Juniper looking rather confused

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11 Comments

  1. November 9, 2015 / 21:20

    You were so right to paint it, it looks great! And I love the idea of filling it with succulents! I've found I can keep green things alive, but not anything with a flower…at all. No idea why! Maybe it's the terrible neglect and children using them as chew toys? Nah, more likely it's the plants fault 😉

    • November 12, 2015 / 16:25

      Hahahaha, at least you can keep them alive Linda! I was referring to your plants just there, not your kids. That was a given.

      I've had so many failed plants in our home, it's quite embarrassing. Maybe this time will be different? Cross your fingers for me.

  2. November 10, 2015 / 00:35

    I want to see it filled! I am too excited to see what you are planning to put in it. Thorough job with the dismantling of it. Black suits it (and you) nicely.

    • November 12, 2015 / 16:22

      I'm hoping to fill it with little succulents! That is, if I don't murder them all. I tend to kill plants rather brilliantly. It could in turn be a fancy casket for all their little stubby corpses!

    • November 13, 2015 / 03:13

      A brilliant casket indeed! Ha!

  3. November 10, 2015 / 10:19

    Way better in black! Plus, I like the grumpy cat. 🙂

  4. November 13, 2015 / 20:25

    Eeek all I can see is my friend Juniper. Okay, not really – I love this little cabinet in black and a big fat YESSS to filling it with little plant life. Can you tell I'm catching up on your blog tonight? #commentspam xxx

    • November 15, 2015 / 16:14

      It is never spam coming from you Kimberly. Glitter and rainbows and unicorns in my inbox is never spam.

      And yay! Succulent is still alive, so fingers crossed I can keep more than one alive!

  5. November 19, 2015 / 07:28

    Oooh, this looks so smart in black – good choice! Can't wait to see it filled with succulents. Maybe I should give them a go too, as usually I also kill any plant which has the misfortune of entering my life… maybe succulents are the way forward!
    I agree that the cabinet looks good without the glass door, maybe you don't need to bother adding it.
    xx

    • November 23, 2015 / 12:31

      So far I haven't put the door back on! More so because I'm half lazy and the thought of taking it apart again is delaying me from doing anything further with it for another little while. But I think it looks lovely without the door! o/