Painting A Wood China Cabinet White & Adding Fabric To The Back Wall

When Emily sent us her remarkable china cabinet makeover we simply had to share her before & after pics. Here is her letter:

I have been following your journal and have been inspired to move away from a house full of dark furniture and lighten things up a bit! We had some dark $10 clearance dining chairs that we purchased last summer but we chose to give them an airy overhaul (we found discount fabric and payed a professional to paint and upholster the chairs and they still came in under $100 a piece!). We also had been on the lookout for a china cabinet to store all of our servingware (which was sadly being stored in our guest room’s closet) when we came across one on Craigslist for simply $75. It even had a working light! All it took to totally transform it was some leftover topcoat and fabric from the chairs along with around $40 of primer, paint and brushes from Lowe’s. We simply enjoy the new look- and we hope you like it too. Keep up the good work! And thanks for sharing your lives! – Emily

Here is the cabinet before the big makeover:

And here is the same china cabinet with a crisp new paint job and some leftover chair fabric lining the back:

Is not that incredible? It looks like a $1000+ piece and it was simply $75 on Craigslist. This is such a strong reminder that old pieces of seen-better-days furniture can consistently be upgraded in any number of ways (new hardware, paint, fabric, playful paper drawer liners, antiquing, etc). There truly is no limit to what you can do with a smidge of determination and a little elbow grease. Strong job Emily- thanks so much for sharing!

Psst- Looking for a step by step furniture painting walkthrough? Well look no further.