I had no intention of keeping this cute vintage bookcase for myself when I found it on a recent treasure hunting trip in Pennsylvania. In fact, I had it for sale upstairs in our flea market attic at our shop All Things New Again in Leesburg, VA.
But every time I walked past it, I thought to myself:
That is a great piece of furniture. I wonder where I can put it in my house…
I kept thinking about it as a bookcase…
I really don’t need another bookcase…
But I really loved the shape of this little bookcase.
Then one day I thought:
Aha! That cute little bookcase would make a great china cabinet!
And it is perfect for my purple dishes.
I love dishes! I love them so much—and have so many dishes around my house—you would think I love to cook.
I don’t. I just love to collect and decorate with dishes.
Dave bought me a set of really pretty purple dishes for my birthday—last October.
Those pretty purple dishes have been sitting in the box ever since.
I loved them, but I just didn’t have a place to display them. It made me feel bad to see them sitting in the box because they are really pretty.
Every time we go treasure hunting, I am on the lookout for a hutch or sideboard for the purple dishes, but I really don’t have room for another large piece of furniture like that in my dining room.
I needed to come up with a different idea.
The bookcase was perfect—but first it needed an All Things New Again Make-Over!
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I started by painting the bookcase white using Real Milk Paint Company’s non-toxic milk paint. We recently started carrying this line of eco-friendly milk paint in the shop and we’ve been having fun painting with it.
Here’s a new industrial table/cart Dave created out of an old wooden toolbox, rusty wheels and a caster. He painted the box with Real Milk Paint Company’s Raw Umber. It soaked right into the raw wood and looks like it has been that color forever.
I painted this small chest of drawers with Real Milk Paint Company’s Pale Salmon.
The thing about milk paint is it will get chippy like this when applied over existing finishes like stain or varnish.
We also carry a product called Ultra-Bond that you can add to the milk paint to prevent the chippiness, but I really like that chippy shabby chic look.
Here’s my new bookcase/china cabinet looking all white and chippy and wonderful:
I wanted to do something a little bit different with the backing so it looked more like a fancy china cabinet and less like a bookcase. I wanted it to be soft and elegant.
I removed the backing and painted it a pink so soft, it almost looks white. Then I took a vintage lace curtain panel and Mod Podged it over the backing. I painted the lace pink as well.
The cabinet came with these beautiful backplates, which I also painted pink. The knobs were missing so I added pink crystal knobs.
I love it! I really like the chippy milk paint look a lot. I think it goes great with my décor…
… and it is the perfect place to display my pretty purple birthday dishes!
~ Cathy
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