An Old Handmade Medicine Cabinet Gets a Little First Aid

It was speaking to me. I loved it. I loved the fact that it was handmade. I loved the fact that even though it had a couple of coats of paint, the inside was left natural. I loved the fact that it had history.

This old medicine cabinet was a barn find during a recent trip to Pennsylvania. I'm not even sure the owners knew they still had it. When I pulled it out from under a table and asked them how much they were asking for the piece they looked very confused. Maybe they were just wonderring why I wanted it. It was $1. SCORE!!!! Here it is, in all it's painted up dirty glory.

The first layer of paint was turquoise and then a second layer of a pinkish peach paint covered that and then add some dirt and spider webs.

 

Check out the inside. Never painted! The back is made from old tongue and groove beadboard.

 

My husband was with me when I spotted this and I think even he wasn't sure what I would do with it, but I had a plan.

 

First things first, the cabinet received a good scrubbing. Then I proceeded to remove the old hinges.

 

 

Unfortunately, they had a couple layers of paint on them also and were a bit of a challenge to remove. Eventually I was able to get them off. Then I soaked them in paint remover. I wanted to reuse them and was hoping they would have an aged look after the paint was gone.

 

With the hinges removed, I was able to separate the door and the main part of the cabinet. The next step was to give both pieces a good sanding, then I could proceed with my vision.

 

I painted the edges of both pieces black.

 

 

I did this in hopes that when I painted the entire piece white and distressed it, the black edges would show. It kindof worked.

 

 

It took three coats of white paint to get good, even coverage everywhere. Once both pieces were painted and lightly distressed I designed a first aid cross in the center of the door...

 

 

...and painted it red.

 

 

This took about four coats of red paint to get a solid colored cross. I distressed the cross a little too.

 

 

Now, onto the main part of the cabinet. First, I cleaned it again and then gave it a coat of danish oil to help protect the natural wood.

 

 

Back to the old hinges. After removing them from the paint remover and rinsing them really well, I used a wire brush and was able to remove all of the paint from them and the screws. They looked aged and I was thrilled that I was going to be able to use the original hinges again.

 

 

 I screwed the new, old hinges to the cabinet and the door. Once it was put back together I sealed the outside of the cabinet with a protective clear matte sealer.

 

Here it is, after a little "first aid" :)

 

 

I'm more in love now. My husband was even a little impressed with the transformation. If only I could show the original owners in Pennsylvania. I think they'd be pleased that their cabinet has found a new life. What do you think?

 

'til next time,

Adina

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