How To: Vintage Cabinet Gets A Chippy Finish

As a part of my Master Bathroom Makeover, I decided to hang a vintage cabinet on the wall that was previously on the floor in my dining room.  This particular space is pretty large and I needed something that would take up the space visually, and also provide function in our bath.  I am doing a farmhouse style makeover in this previously contemporary bath, so it has been a challenge, dragging on for months of projects.  Last week, I showed you the White Shutters that I hung to the sides of the windows.  The bathroom has been missing the cabinet doors for two weeks as we re-style them into something more appropriate for my style. 

I am going to show you the progression of what happened with this cabinet.  I have people ask me how I pull off this look, so I thought I would show you step by step. The technique is a layering of sorts of different colors with a solid coating of a final color before sanding back to reveal the color changes in specific areas.

 First I started with the green cabinet mounted safely on the wall.

-Before-

This bath is a lemon yellow and white to match the Master Bedroom.  If you missed the bedroom reveal click, here for that post.  Since the walls were yellow, I decided to add a significant amount of a bright yellow on the first layer.  I didn't cover the entire piece with this yellow.  I am just going to want it to show through in the areas that I painted it.  Also, I realize that this yellow is garish.  It will not be once I am finished.  This is a special mix that Sherwin Williams makes for me.  (I have the formula if you are interested.)

I am messy about this, it helps later by adding texture that my stain will pick up and highlight.  I even let some of the paint drip.  I don't care at this point.  No perfection here.  I let the yellow cure for a day or so. Next I added accents of barn red.  This red is a Valspar Signature Satin Finish Color in Heirloom Red.  I usually use Sherwin Williams Duration, but I had this, so I used it.  No waste.

I also made sure and got a few spots of the paint colors on the hinges and the vintage lock in the middle. You can see how I just kinda dabbed paint there too.  The accents that were laid up on the yellow parts, needed two coats to cover the yellow effectively.

After waiting a few days for that layer to cure, I came back with one of my favorite paint colors, Sherwin Williams Duration in Creamy.  Why my favorite?  I find it to be the most versatile white shade and is easy to alter with stains if needed.  So here is the cabinet with a nice layer of Creamy.

I let this sit for a few days, not because I needed to.  I was just busy.  So I came back with a sanding block and it wasn't rough enough to begin to removed the white.  So out came my Black and Decker Mouse with an 80 grit pad.  I sanded back the layers, having to change the pad out three times to get the finish I was trying to achieve.  Here is what it looked like at this point.  You can see the colors peaking through.

At this point, I gave the cabinet a thorough cleaning, removing all sanding dust.  The room was a mess, so I stopped and gave it a deep cleaning.  I was also pretty tired from all the manual labor, so I stopped for the day.  Notice in the image above you can see that the yellow is still bright and garish.  It is the next step that tones that color down to more of a brown mustard color.

I want to age this patina and the way I achieve this is to rub on a stain by hand.  I use a clean shop rag and MinWax Wood Finish in Dark Walnut.  I always where latex gloves for this process.  I don't like losing the touch I get with bare hands, but it just isn't worth the horrible clean up that is required on my hands and nails if I don't wear gloves.  On this particular piece, I rubbed so hard that two of my fingertips became exposed.  That alone was a thirty minute ordeal of scrubbing.  

The process is a wipe on wipe off type of application.  As I work, my rag becomes more saturated, so I must grab another clean one for the rubbing off part.  After I get the overall cabinet done, I come back with a throw away brush and concentrate stain in the cracks and crevices in key areas of the cabinet and gently remove the excess on the other area around the cracks.  

So here is the near completed cabinet.

Just scrolling through those final detail images makes my heart race!  Aren't they yummy??!! 

I will let this piece sit for a week or so to cure completely before coming back with my favorite of all favorite waxes, Fiddles and Sons for a nice top finish.  I never rush this step.  The stain takes several days to completely dry and harden.  I don't want the chemicals in the wax to lift a thing.

If you are still reading...thank you for taking the time to stop and hang here at The Homeless Finch.  This was a pretty lengthy post.  We are all super busy and it means a lot to me when people take the time to check out my projects.  Don't be afraid to leave a comment either.  It lets me know you were here!!   Now let me go and rest my tired little ole right arm...Phew! All that rubbing!  Guess this gets me out of cooking tonight. Well.....probably not...

-The End-