How to Turn a Dated Cabinet into a Super-Cool Sideboard/Custom Wine Rack

When I first came across this cabinet on Marketplace, I had to have it. I'm sure the average person would look at this and think "ew, gross" especially with that delightful tinted glass 😉, but us furniture refinishers have a different eye for things! Seeing as wine is huge in our region, I knew right away I wanted to create a wine rack of some sort. By "I," I mean bug my husband to build one for me. So that's what we did. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the Okanagan, it is a region in British Columbia, Canada known for the beautiful lakes, vineyards, and of course the wine! Across the Okanagan Valley, which encompasses several cities and towns, there are over 180 wineries and it is referred to as the wine capital of Canada. So yes, you could say additional wine storage here is essential. 

With any project I do, if possible, I like to leave some of the wood exposed. For this piece, I decided to highlight the beautiful wood grain in the legs and drawer face. I knew I wanted the wine rack insert to be natural wood as well. The rest I chose to paint white, because light wood and white are my go-to! I began by removing the tinted glass and the shelf where the wine rack would be going. I took a saw to it to weaken it, then with some force was able to bend it and pull it out. Using wood filler, I filled the grooves on the sides where the shelf once sat and let it set.

For the next step, I busted out my reliable Festool Sander and Dust Extractor. This tool has by far been my best investment, I was hesitant to make the purchase, but luckily my husband convinced me knowing it would be well used, and boy is it ever! The dust collector allows me to sand everything in my garage with no mess!

I began by sanding the parts I was planning to leave wood, using 80-grit to remove the original finish. Then, I moved to 120 grit to smooth it over. Next, I went over it once more by hand with a 220 grit. Finally, I scuff-sanded the rest of the piece. Note: This isn't a necessary step when using BB Frösch, but I still like to--especially with hard, shiny surfaces. 

Once all the sanding was complete, I made sure to give everything a thorough clean to remove the excess dust, dirt, grease and whatever else this piece was exposed to over the years. I then did two coats of primer which, again, isn't necessary when adding BB Frösch Paint Transformer, but I find I use less paint when I prime first. You could also just add BB Frösch to paint that already has primer in it.

The color I chose for this piece is called Palais by Behr. I loooove that using BB Frösch Paint Transformer allows me to choose any color and shade for my furniture. It's so exciting going into Home Depot and looking over all the colors to choose from--the options are endless!

I mixed 2 tablespoons of BB Frösch powder within 1.5 tablespoons of water until it was smooth. Then I added my paint and combined. The powder makes the paint so much more adhesive and provides such a smooth finish! You can also find mixing instructions here.

After two coats of paint, I added a water based top coat by Varathane in a Satin finish. I'll be honest, it took some trial and error before I found a top coat I liked that didn't tint my white pieces yellow, but that's all part of this biz. 

While I was finishing up the piece, my handy man husband was busy building the custom wine rack. We purchased a board of solid pine from Home Depot then using his mitre and table saw, my husband cut it down to size and figured out the correct angles for the perfect fit! The wine rack was stained in Flagstone by Varathane. Then I lightly sanded it to lighten the color and sealed it with polyurethane. 

Once the piece was sealed, the beautiful wine rack was ready to be the star of the show! It turned out so well, I contemplated selling the Costco sideboard we currently have in order to keep it. Overall it was a super fun project and nice to make it even more functional than it was in its previous life. It's now ready to take on the next 50 years of use!

 

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