Repurposing an Antique Buffet

As many of you know, my husband and I have 5 children ages 17 to 3, and the questions I've been getting alot from clients and customers lately are  "How in the world do you get all this refurbishing done?" or "Do you ever sleep?" Well, it certainly is a lot of work raising children as many of you know, but because I married my best friend 18 years ago and because he is the hardest working person I've ever met, he makes me want to be the best mom I can be.  I work hard at refurbishing furniture and the business because I truly enjoy it, almost as much as I love being a mom.  Around our house everyone has to chip in to stay organized and to get things done.  For instance this summer, with all of the children home for break, and with me having to work at the store, my older girls take turns from babysitting for the younger two and going with me to the store where they paint, make home decor and just hang with me!  I know some people may laugh and ask if I've ever heard about the child labor laws, but they do get paid and we believe it's good for kids now a days to learn responsibility and reap the benefits of working for a dollar.  We also teach them about reusing, recycling and my favorite repurposing or up-cycling as I've heard it called. This week we've been doing alot of just that.  

A month or so ago, a past client had stopped in the shop asking if I was interested in buying her buffet.  By the photos she shared,  I saw it was in decent condition and agreed.  You know, sometimes pictures just plain lie.  When she brought the buffet to us I will admit I was a bit disappointed and frankly a little scared.  It was in worse shape than we are use to.  Besides the insert to 1 of the cabinet doors being pushed out, the 2 drawers were so warped they couldn't  open or close.  Yes, it had good bones, but the drawers were a lost cause, so I though about replacing the drawers with shelves where you could store baskets for storage.  Then it dawned on me, how cool would it be to keep your wine in these cubbys and your glasses in the cabinet?!  My husband on the other hand was a little skeptical, but of course got to work on his plans.  

 This is what we started with.....

You can't tell it from this picture, but the drawers were so warped, they couldn't
slide in and out anymore.  You can see that the door insert is pushed through.

 After a date night at Home Depot,  I know it's sad, we bought the supplies we needed.  Of course a new project calls for a new tool, which my husband loves.  We came home with all of the supplies we needed and a  new toy, a 4 inch hole saw.  Although I  was absent for the majority of the construction, remember we have 5 kids, my husband gave a brief tutorial on how he made the wine rack.  Taking a pine board, he used his handy dandy hole saw and cut out 8 holes in the middle of the pine board. He then cut that board in half long ways leaving half circles for the rack, 8 front and 8 back.  He sanded the edges smooth.  Shelf board was used for the bottoms of each rack.  After installing the racks, the cosmetic and fun stuff began!

We refinished the top in dark walnut and sealed it with 3 coats of wipe on poly.  I wanted this piece to be a soft classy color that would go easily with many home decors, so I chose to use Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint ™ French Linen on the body.  For the trimmings and door inserts, I mixed a custom color of a little of the French Linen and Old White.  

Remember when I mentioned the door inserts being pushed out of one of the doors? My first thought was using chicken wire for a replacement, but wanted something a bit sturdier.  So, on our trip to Home Depot we picked up a sheet of metal mesh.  It came in sheets 24" X 12".  With tin snips, we cut them in half for each door.  The mesh came in the gray metal only, so I used Oil Rubbed Bronze on them.  I also sprayed the door knobs in this.

And this is our repurposed buffet turned Wine Rack with metal mesh inserts in the cabinet doors!

We truly enjoyed doing this project.  It was something my husband and I was able to do together.   With a little imagination and a few new tools,  we were able to save this buffet from a certain trip to the dump.  And that my friend, is what it's all about.

Have a blessed week everyone!