I attend auctions, estate sales, garage sales and scour FB marketplace to find my treasures. My friends know this is how I spend my time and always ask me to keep and eye out for something they are searching. I am happy to obilige! I feel it gives me further reason to keep on hunting—as if I need one! LOL. When your bestie asks you to keep an eye out for something that will work for a liquor cabinet, I was all over that!
I found this cabinet at an estate auction last fall. It was one of those auctions where things were going for ridiculously inexpensive prices. I was thrilled to get this one.
It had adjustable shelves but the shelves were clearly a later add on to the piece. They were just dirty pieces of plywood. The glass in the door was also cracked but I knew that could easily be replaced.
My God-daughter, (daughter of bestie), often helps me with projects and she had a vision for this cabinet. We began by removing the door from the cabinet. We removed the glass and the trim on the inside of the door holding the glass. I was afraid it might be brittle and would just break if it was pried off. It came off easily. We measured and ordered a piece of glass from Glass Doctor..
You always hear measure twice and cut once, well we didn't do that...when I picked up the glass, it was one-eighth of an inch too long. I took it back to Glass Doctor, they weren't sure they could trim such a small amount. They told me I might need a new piece of glass. I took the door with me so they could ensure it would fit. They are superstars and and they were able to trim it for me and did so at no additional charge—definitely superstars!
My glass saga didn't end there. As soon as I got it back to the shop, I dropped the glass and it did what glass does when dropped. It broke. I called Glass Doctor. They said to bring back the door and they would cut a new piece and secure it in the door. So, I ended up paying for the glass twice, but Glass Doctor did an awesome job and they did the job very quickly!
We gave the piece a good cleaning. It really needed it!
Since the shelves didn't match the wood of the cabinet, my God-daughter wanted to give them a little pizzazz. She found an old history book that was falling apart and already missing pages in my stash and asked if she could use it to decoupage the shelves.
After a couple of coats of decoupage, she used an antiquing medium and then used Varathane Crystal Clear Polyurethane to seal the shelves.
We decided we needed a knob or handle on the door so we selected a knob, drilled a hole, inserted the knob and attached it with the nut.
This knob works great. The patina is right for the age of the piece and the metal matches the keyhole.
Speaking of the keyhole, this cabinet did not come with a key. My God-daughter searched through my stash of skeleton keys and found one that actually works with this lock! What are the odds? So this cabinet can be locked now.
This is the finished piece. The transformation was subtle, but has amazing impact. Cleaning the piece brought out the beauty of the wood. Adding vintage pages to the shelves just added to its charm. My friend will use it as a liquor cabinet but it could hold any type of collection.
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Below is an image to pin to Pinterest if you would like to save this idea!
