Makeover of a vintage piece of furniture into a TV Cabinet

TV cabinet makeover

As soon as I saw this vintage piece of furniture lying around in my mother-in-law’s basement, I fell in love with it. We were really lucky because she gave it to my partner and me when we bought our first house.

Since then, he has followed us everywhere, but this is the first time that I can really say that he has found his place!

We can say that this piece of furniture has undergone revaluations: a TV stand in the 50s – 60s, a bar in the 70s – 80s, including a storage unit, a toy box with the arrival of my first child… In short, he had quite an experience before I started his makeover and proudly installed him in my new dining room!

The products used

• Polish cleanser and make-up remover Colorantic
• Colorantic Chalk Paint: Night 
• Natural beeswax Colorantic
• Oval brush #10 Colorantic
• Sandblasting block two grains Colorantic
• Sandblaster and 60 grit paper
• Wallpaper (your choice)

Step 1 – We erase and start again!

Who says several lives, says several coats of paint! Brown, beige, white, yellow… There was definitely a lot of preparation and several hours of work ahead of me!

So, I started with the first step and not the least: sanding the top. I absolutely wanted to find raw wood even though I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

1. 60 grit sandpaper (yes, yes 60… nothing less). Electric sandblaster in hand and a good three hours of arm juice later, I finally had the desired result. I’ll let you imagine the state of my workshop which was literally overflowing with dust!
2. For the rest of the furniture, I cleaned thoroughly with Colorantic Varnish Cleaner and Remover. I sprayed it and leave alone act for 30 minutes, once the time has elapsed, I took care to rinse well twice in order to remove all residue. 
3. I sanded very lightly to scratch the surfaces using the fine side of the Colorantic sanding block. Naturally, I dusted off well before continuing. 

Step 2 – Painting 

Then comes the fun part, painting! 

1. I applied three coats of Colorantic Nuit chalk paint. This is the #10 oval brush that I used for this step. 
2. I sanded lightly between each coat of paint, always taking care to dust well. 

Step 3 – The final touch

1. For the finish, I hung wallpaper at the bottom of the furniture to create a WOW effect. 
2. I also dared, for the first time, to apply the Natural wax Bee from Colorantic. .Usually I work with the nailpolish matte from Colorantic, but I wanted to test a new product.
3. The wax is worked in small sections of approximately 2 square feet. You must therefore apply the wax and once applied, using a white cloth (t-shirt) which does not foam or blue workshop paper towels, you polish. Once the section is complete, you start again until the piece of furniture is completely waxed. 
4. It is very important to change the cloth at each section, as it will become clogged with wax and prevent you from polishing properly. 

***With my lack of experience, I applied way too much wax and on top of that I didn’t buff it, so the wax took a full month before it dried completely. But in the end, the result was still superb… I really liked the finish that the wax provided, even if I admit that I prefer working with the Colorantic matte varnish.

Today, with the purchase of a new house, this vintage piece of furniture has become an integral part of our dining room. I love its vintage chic side and I absolutely don’t miss the days when it was bright yellow overflowing with my children’s toys!

I would eventually like to add a wooden shelf to display my collection of vintage glasses and vases which, for the moment, is stored on the top floor due to lack of space.

Peggy Bourque-Ouellet