This week’s guest post features a curio cabinet transformation submitted by Stylish Patina reader, Janelle Welch. Janelle lives in Northern Virginia with her husband John, her Pit Bull Mix, Nikki and a very bossy cat. She is a web designer and developer and a graphic designer who has absolutely fallen in love with painting furniture.

Janelle’s story of transforming her curio cabinet is one we can all relate to. She found the piece sitting around unused, and somewhat forgotten, at her parents house in an out-of-the way hallway. It used to be in her grandmother’s home, but was now just collecting dust. The curio cabinet is not an antique piece, most likely from the late 80’s but it is sturdy, made from dark cherry wood with nice glass doors and Janelle knew it was worthy of more than a dusty hallway. She decided to take the piece home and turn it into something more interesting that fit nicely into the color palette of her home.

Here is a before photo of the curio cabinet.

The next step for Janelle was to take on the task of transforming this piece and giving it a new life!

Here is the process Janelle used to refresh her curio cabinet:

1. Janelle applied an undercoat, a light white wash with Annie Sloan Old White, thinned out slightly.
2. She then applied a second coat, slightly thicker than the last using Annie Sloan Chatueax Grey.
3. After the paint was completely dry, she distressed the piece. First, she used a rough piece of sandpaper for the larger, heavy areas – she wanted a very distressed look. Then she used a sanding sponge to distress some of the areas where she only wanted a little of the white paint to show through.
4. Then, she used a large natural bristle wax brush to apply a coat of clear wax. She mixed in a very light amount of dark wax on just a few areas, like around the knobs and corners.
5. Finally, Janelle used a soft rag to hand buff the cabinet to a smooth surface and shine.

All in all, it took Janelle a couple of days to complete her project. She painted it one weekend and distressed and waxed it the following weekend.

Here are some after pictures of Janelle’s fab curio cabinet!

Here is a list of the supplies Janelle used to transform her curio cabinet:
– Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White & Chateaux Grey
– Annie Sloan Clear & Dark Wax
– Natural Bristle Wax Application Brush
– Sanding Sponge
– Sand Paper

You can purchase all of the above items (except the sanding supplies) in our online shop here or in person at our retail store, located in Falls Church. Also, if you are looking for a fab piece to transform yourself, be sure to stop by Rough Luxe this month!

Want to learn some paint skills? Reserve a spot in our March Paint Class, click here! You’ll learn all about how to use several of our paint lines and gain the confidence to start refreshing furniture yourself. Just bring your creativity!

Thank you so much to Janelle for sharing her amazing transformation. If you have a DIY project or home makeover you’d like to share – email it to us at press@stylishpatina.com!