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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

DIY Royal Cupboard Makeover


 This is the story of how the dated reproduction mahogany colored cupboard on the left found it's royal heritage!

First of all I stripped it, as the hand
painted roses were very thick.  I removed
the hardware, and puttied the holes. Mr. P
then drilled new holes for me and I set
out to paint it.  Died mahogany always
takes several coats of paints and some Kills
as well.  After it dried I replaced the lower
handles with crystal knobs, which I still
love the looks of.





 Here it is, in its new persona as a linen press in my newly remodeled bathroom.  This bathroom was build in the space that had once been a service stair case leading from the servants quarters (only on the house plan, not in real life) to the dining room and then down again to a kitchen in the basement.  When the house was split up into apartments in the 1930's, the builder made a bathroom on each floor of this stair case, and this one is very long and skinny, as you can see.
 This is how I gave the cupboard some personality.  I used the 'scribble on the back of what you want to transfer with a pencil' method.  Above you see the 'pattern' for the words, with the pencil scribbling.  Above that is the partially finished 'street sign'.  Note all the rubbed off smudging from the pencil.  then note in the picture below that it washes off after you have traced and colored in your design with permanent markers. (I use two sizes of sharpies.)

 Here are a few other pictures of details we included in our black and white décor.

 The signs and pictures in the room are all family oriented.

I plan to add more street names to the cupboard, on the doors and drawers.  I chose Imperial Street, which is in the neighbor hood where I was born, so that I could put a crown, on the crown. :-)  Other street names will include: Hartford, where I great up, Fardown Ave, where my husband grew up, Edison Street where our first apartment was, then Sunnyside Ave, where our second apartment was found.  It will be like a scrap book of our homes, which gives me an idea, maybe I should make black and white prints of houses we have lived in and add them in ....hmmm, have to think about that one.  Thanks for coming by to see my new bathroom.  And a special thanks to Graphics Fairy for the awesome crown graphic!

3 comments:

  1. Fabulous old cupboard and fabulous bathroom makeover! I had a black and white period bathroom in our old house with the same floor, and I still miss it. You've chosen some wonderful black & white accents for the room.

    I never thought of using markers to "paint" lettering. So much easier than painting!

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  2. This is amazing! Love what you did to this cupboard. Your bathroom is very pretty.

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  3. Wonderful creation, what a lot of work. Now you can sit on the throne and admire.

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