another direction

I finished the painting, sanding, waxing and buffing on my Craigs list cabinet.  Like I said before, I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Coco (aka French  Old Linen outside of the US)... and I chose to do something a little different for the inside.

It's now residing in the spot at the top of the stairs... sans knobs and glass... but otherwise finished.

The view as you come up the stairs... this space is kind of awkward and it was hard to get a picture of the finished cabinet.  I think it took me as long to arrange everything as it did to paint!

I played around with mixing the Coco with both Pure White for one coat and Old White for another.  I also used Coco unmixed as the base coat... three coats of paint and a bit of pure Coco here and there to bring out a bit of detail.

I'll be ordering knobs from Anthro since I won't be heading to Seattle anytime soon.  I only need two so I can splurge a little.  One thing about using chalk paint was that I didn't worry about getting it on the hardware for the keyhole and locking mechanism since I could lightly sand it off during the sanding stage.

I sanded to bring out some of the detail...

Especially around the molding at the top... I also didn't work any paint into each little bit of this dental(?) molding.

The bottom or feet got a bit of distressing too.  Clear ASCP wax and a good buffing and the piece was done.  I think I've finally mastered the not too much, not too little wax step.  The first few times I used too much wax and that certainly made the buffing stage a little bit harder.

And the different route I chose for the interior?  Well originally I thought I would paint it Duck Egg Blue or Provence... then I thought I'd wallpaper the back with some vintage or vintage inspired paper... then I realized I already had the perfect linen to go with the Coco paint.  A damask pattern.

I like the subtle pattern behind the shelves... and since they are removable it was easy to add the fabric.

I just attached it along the top, sides and in the center behind each shelf with thumbtacks.

Since perhaps I just might change my mind about the interior one day.

Of course I filled the inside, top and bottom, with my favorites from the prior bookshelf.

Not quite everything fit but everything that I really wanted to keep fit just find.  The over sized books went in the bottom since it is a little deeper.

The top is full of some special white pieces like this little set of ironstone that was my grandmother's.  As children we used to take it outside and play with it.  When my parents moved into my grandparent's house and took a a huge bush... well it was inside.  See this bush was our private little place to play house since it was hollow inside!

Of course my Nancy Drew books made the cut...

Some family bibles, including a Norwegian one, are stacked on a shelf... and these two little shell shaped vases belonged to an honorary aunt.  She kept them in her bathroom for years and years.  The are California Pottery pieces and are actually worth quite a bit so they need a safe spot to rest.

All and all I'm happy with the results...

And now I just need to tweak a few things in this space and it's finished... at least for now.

linking up to

the scoop
link party


AND

Elizabeth & Co.
Be Inspired

AND

French Country Cottage
Feathered Nest Friday

AND

Common Ground
Be Inspired Friday

AND

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Tuesday's Treasures