Yippee! Before and after guest posts are back this week – and boy do we have a good one for you. This week our DIY submission is from Hetty over at Stone House Workshop. She is a multi-talented DIYer, refreshing furniture, crocheting, knitting – she’s even a certified knitting instructor – teaching children and adults alike!

This week she’s sharing a china cabinet refresh with us. Hetty fell in love with collecting creamy white ironstone china and really wanted to find a way to display her budding collection. She decided a china cabinet was exactly what she needed. Take it away, Hetty!

“Did you ever try to match your favorite china dishes with a cabinet? No, of course not. That would be silly, right? But what if you really love a specific china dish pattern? And you want the perfect place to display them?” said Hetty.

Hetty’s gorgeous ironstone china collection.

“In the spring I started looking for a china cabinet. No simple task. I knew what I did NOT like, but I was not sure what I was looking for. It took me about two months and finally there it was! I knew this cabinet would look great after some work and believe me, it needed some work!” said Hetty.

China cabinet before.

“The surface is mostly veneer, so I did not feel guilty at all to give her a coat of paint.   First I cleaned her thoroughly and I washed her with a TSP solution. After that I used wood filler to make a the surface smooth and leveled,” said Hetty.

“I gave the cabinet two coats of shellac primer. I choose Benjamin Moore Easter Lily white in a semi-gloss finish (to match my dishes) and for the inside I used Westcott Navy in eggshell finish (had this color matched at Sherwin Williams and purchased a sample pot for $6),” said Hetty.

And here is Hetty’s transformed china cabinet – the perfect place to show off her lovely china.

And, we have to share the hardware Hetty used on the cabinet – its little details like this that make a piece!

Thank you Hetty for sharing this darling transformation! We hope it inspires you to think outside the box and transform a piece of furniture to meet your needs. Do you have a DIY project you’d love to share? We’d love to hear about it! Submit your story with images here.

Embarking on your own DIY journey? Purchase the supplies you’ll need (like paint, brushes, waxes and more) in our retail store or our online shop. Also, we have TWO paint classes coming up in the month of September – an advanced class and a basic class. If you want to learn the ropes or some new skills – be sure to sign up, spots fill quickly!