White Curio Cabinet

September 2, 2019

Hello Furniture Makeover Lovers! This is a different kind of blog post for me because this white curio cabinet with metallic accents is not the final product. I was about to load this piece for delivery today, sent a picture to my client for her final approval, and whomp whomp whomp….she didn’t love it. I’ve done pieces for her before, and we have always vibed. But today we finally ran into a project where I wasn’t reading her mind. And that’s OK!

I’m sharing this story because if you are a furniture flipper, this may very well happen to you at some point. And if you aren’t a furniture flipper and you’re doing a DIY, you still may not like your own finished project.

So I’ve taken a deep breath, and I will head in a new direction with the piece tomorrow. Luckily, the bulk of my work will stay. It’s just the accents that need changing. Let me tell you what I’ve done so far, and then I’ll share the new direction.

I forgot to take a regular before picture, so this is a screenshot from a Facebook Live I did cleaning the piece. I used White Lightning, and sprayed it down, wiped it and rinsed. I taped off the glass in the front doors and the mirror in the back. But I ended up having to take out the door glass to cover all the wood with paint. So if I had it to do over again, I would have removed the glass from the start.

Then, I painted one coat of white BOSS (a primer that blocks odors, stains and bleed-through). Since I was painting it white, I used the BOSS primarily to block bleed-through. But I’m also just loving how much BOSS grips the paint, and I’m considering using it on all of my pieces.

Painting with Moonshine Metallics

I painted the majority of the curio cabinet in 2 coats of Fluff, a slightly warm white. I knew I was going to use Steel Magnolias silver metallic on the trim and insets, so I painted those areas with a base of Gravel Road, a dark gray. Somewhat matching the base color to the metallic color cuts down on the number of metallic coats needed.

After I painted the insets and trim with Steel Magnolia, I decided to also add Deep Woods (green) and Pacific (dark blue) metallics. These were other colors in her room, so I thought they would tie in. She has a mural of the Northern Lights painted on her ceiling, so the swirly shapes were also a nod to that.

Sealing with Big Mama’s Butta

To seal, I used a product that is new to me and fairly new in Dixie Belle’s line-up, called Big Mamma’s Butta. It is a wax, made with hemp seed oil, coconut oil, beeswax, carnuba wax and essential oils. I rubbed it on with a lint free cloth, and buffed it off.

Here are the products I used for this project:

Resource list

(These are affiliate links, for which I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)

New Direction

My client thought the contrast between the white and the metallic was too much. She wanted a softer more wintery look. So, now I am thinking of using micah flakes for more of a shimmer, some Dixie Belle mud for texture and lightening the silver metallic with white paint. I may even paint a snowy landscape in the insets if she is game. Stay tuned to see what happens next!

UPDATE:

I re-painted the metallic areas with Silver Bullet, added snowy texture with Dixie Belle white mud and added some glitter to reflect the light. My client loves the new look. If you love it too, please Pin!