My super-Craigslist-finder sister found these awesome (and kinda ugly) armoires for $40. In Hawai’i, we don’t have very many options when it comes to furniture. Pressed board furniture does not do well here. Solid wood furniture is preferred, but it costs a FORTUNE! It’s often cheaper to buy quality furniture on the mainland and ship it here via ship cargo. The best furniture finds are usually at Costco. But, you’re limited to the type and it’s only seasonal.
Anyway, this piece is solid wood. It’s very sturdy and all the drawers glide easily. PLUS, it has the adjustable shelf clip thingys (I’m sure there’s a name for this) already installed. Often times armoires aren’t outfitted for shelves on top. And…with the push of a lever, the drawers all lock. Perfect for little two year old hands and seven year old fabric lovers…who sometimes forget to ask before cutting up fabric.
I broke up the hubby’s work day and told him that he needed to leave and pick it up within an hour and a half…nowhere near his office. He was less than pleased (to put it nicely 
). I was very happy!!! He couldn’t park in his office building because it wouldn’t fit in the parking garage, so he parked at his mom’s apartment building and walked back to work. All this in his “office attire.” Thank you babe!
In the beginning, I went after it with OIL BASED paint. YIKES!!!! Who knew it was so awful to work with? I hated it. I couldn’t stand the lines. Now I know why everything grand-dad painted had those paint lines through them. He was a painter. I always thought he just used really good thick paint that left lines because it was so “quality” thick. On top of that, I wasn’t even sure it would dry this month! So, although I was very grateful for my dad’s free paint….
I ended up stripping it all off the next day. You can see here that I also attached paintable wallpaper to the doors and created a border with wood strips. The wood strips were leftover toe kick boards from my kitchen remodel. I just cut them on my table saw.
This is how she looked inside before.
And these are her insides after. I used wrapping paper and Mod Podge. I know it’s kinda wrinkly…but I wasn’t too worried about it because once everything’s in, it won’t show. I had the same attitude with painting MANY coats on the shelves. I just needed it to be “generally” white.
I drilled new holes on the drawers so that I could add knobs. The knobs were brushed nickel, so I had to paint them. I also removed the hinges to spray them black.
Now, it’s not organized yet. I just wanted to see if I could fit everything that I was hoping to inside. I’m so excited! Everything fits! Anyone free to help me organize all my fabric into something that’s functional and pretty to look at???? All my favorite fabrics are in the drawers. Did you notice that “keyboard drawer” and how it fits all of my sewing machine “stuff” perfectly? I should probably screw a board on to the back of it so things won’t go falling off.
In a nutshell, here’s how it went down.
This was so fun. I LOVE IT so much!!! Now, to clean the house that was very neglected during this project. *sigh*
) live in California, came so it was really nice having our whole family together in 
