An Armoire Awakened

Hello everyone!

Well, in the last week I've managed to get quite a bit done around here. Unfortunately, that means I've been somewhat neglectful of the blog, but I hope you'll think the lack of posts was worth it when you see what I was working on.

In my quest to rid the side porch of furniture detritus projects, I finished a Craigslist armoire that will be going in my office as a much-needed storage place for crafting and sewing materials.

The armoire is from the 1930s and I immediately fell in love when I spied it on Craigslist.  The curvy lines on top are so pretty and feminine. And the little drawer! How adorable is that?

'Scuse the tight crop...I was trying to hide my porch of shame. Also, you are seeing shadows cast by a tree on the front of the armoire. As a friend from Arizona said when she visited me for the first time: "You live in the forest!"

The armoire orginally belonged to the seller's mother and had been painted yellow at one point and then stripped, so the wood was bone dry.

Before I could paint, veneer repairs were needed. The door fronts were particularly chipped in several places so I used Kwik Wood and carpenter's wood filler to smooth out the imperfections. I did a decent job of leveling it, but then I noticed the wonkiness happening on the left door. (See the gap at the top?)

Once I noticed this, it seemed like the gap got bigger and bigger each time I looked at it....grrrr. I proceeded to remove both doors and see if fiddling with the hinges would right the problem. However, once the doors were off, I realized I liked the armoire quite well without them.

Fickle, aren't I?

My rationalization behind leaving the doors off was that they didn't really add any visual interest with their flat fronts. And if I decided to antique the piece, the areas of repaired veneer would reveal themselves to be decidedly imperfect.  A little too imperfect for such an elegant piece.

Since I knew I needed to conceal all my crafting junk, but didn't have proper doors, I got to thinking about the pretty Tanya Whelan fabric I ordered in February...particularly this fabric, called Amelie, from the Delilah collection.

Hmmm....

So after painting the armoire in Big Chill by Sherwin Williams, I whipped out two yards of Amelie and this is what I came up with:

She looks so British now with that light grey paint and Cath Kidston-esque fabric!

 

Basking in the spring-time light...

But wait!

Let's take a peek behind those curtains...

Well, well, what do we have here? <cheeky grin> Yellowed, vintage book pages and newspapers were decoupaged to the interior because I didn't feel like painting anymore for an element of surprise. This is truly a multi-media armoire!  Paint, fabric *and* paper...

By the way, save your money if you've been buying Mod Podge to decoupage. I mixed 2 parts white glue with 1 part water and it worked like a charm. For added protection, the paper is sealed with a single coat of leftover Polyacrylic. 

And all that time I spent repairing the doors I ultimately removed won't be for naught. My husband is going to make shelves of them for the inside, then this armoire is going into service!

Take care,
Erin

P.S.--I'll be back later this week with a proper introduction to my flock of hens. Until last week I had six, then we added two Polish Silkie youngsters over the weekend, and another laying hen will be coming in a few weeks. Is there such a thing as being a crazy chicken lady?  If so, I think I'm becoming one...

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Linking to:

Piece of Work Wednesdays at Primitive and Proper

Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking

Restored It Wednesday at Restore Interiors 

Whatever Wednesday at Momma Hen's Coop

Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage

All Things Furniture at Perfectly Imperfect

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

Air Your Laundry Friday at Freckled Laundry

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Paint, Please Party at Modern Country Style 

and

The DIY Club's 31 Days of Painting