Furniture Makeover by The Painted Hive

This cute little cabinet makeover is a stunning before and after, with a great solution for salvaging damaged wood veneer on top. 

Read more about how to refinish wood furniture here and see more painted furniture makeovers here. 

Refinished Cabinet with Papered Top

Hey guys! Once again I’m stoked to be back here at Remodelaholic to share another project.

If you maybe missed my previous guest posts, please allow me to introduce myself: I’m Kristine and I write The Painted Hive blog. I’m still a bit of a newbie in town so you’re forgiven for never having heard of me 🙂

Anyways, I love a good furniture makeover and here’s one of my most recent ones. I found this cute little cupboard in the gutter.

Needless to say within a few minutes it had magically teleported itself to the back of my car!

I knew that with a little love someone would eventually prefer this little guy inside their home so got to work painting the body in rich ebony before distressing and sealing it.

Learn more about painting furniture and what type of paint to use. 

Well, that was the easy part though because here’s the main reason I imagine it was on the curb to begin with:

Someone had been waaay too zealous with an electric sander. Not only is there chipboard showing through the veneer, those lines you can probably make out are actually deep ridges.

Sure I coulda just filled, sanded and painted the whole top though I wanted to make a bit more of a statement than that. Enter….my good friend gift wrap.

I adore gorgeous paper and for some reason have always been drawn to vintage maps – which I thought would be just perfect for this project.

The sheet of gift wrap I bought wasn’t quite big enough to cover the whole top of the cabinet so I took it to my local printer who scanned, enlarged and printed a new copy for just $20.

Before I started hacking away at my gorgeous new print I first created an accurate template using baking paper which I could use as a guide when cutting it out.

This just helps protect the ink and stops it from running if the paper becomes too damp during the gluing or final sealing process. It also helps to stiffen the paper and avoid bubbling.

To attach the paper I applied a pretty thick coat of slightly diluted PVA to the cabinet then smoodged (hey, it’s a word) my map into place.

I then applied about five coats of satin clear sealer using a paint bush making sure to cover all of the edges really well.

To tie-in with the map theme I also created these cute little compass knobs using basic DIY decals. Anyone with a printer and standard copy paper can do this at home!

Simply paint a plain timber knob any colour you like then find or create a design on your computer and print it out onto normal paper.

(It’s best if the background colour of your design matches the colour of your knob so it blends in seamlessly).

Here’s my compass design if anyone wants to use it. Just re-scale it to the size you need

The process of attaching it to the knob is basically the same as that I used for adhering my map to the cabinet top.

Give your design a few light coats of clear matte spray, cut around it closely and then glue and smoodge (word of the day) it into place on your knob. Finish with a few coats of satin sealer to protect it and voila!

I loved making these and the possibilities are practically endless – you could use letters, numbers, symbols, little clock faces, cartoon characters…anything!

Seriously – LURVE it!

Anyways, before I sign off here are a few final before and afters just for comparison’s sake:

More inspiring furniture makeovers:

• How to Paint an Upholstered Chair
• Chalk Paint Green Entry Table
• No Sanding, No Primer – Painted Hutch Makeover
• Farmhouse Folding Chair Makeover