IKEA Cabinet Makeover

When we purchased this IKEA stand about 5 years ago to hold our TV, it was in IKEA's signature light pine with laminate in the back (see picture below, taken from craigslist).

It's not that we loved the pine even then, but it was one of the few cabinets that could hold our monster of a TV (we went and bought a big screen tv right before the flat screens came down in price- sigh!) and while the thing is large, it holds all our TV related stuff and it sports a lock too which is great for keeping out those curious and sticky little hands :o)

While undertaking the building of a new playroom in our "new-to-us" home (pictures to come) I decided that the pine had to go, that I had to get rid of the "university furniture" and do away with the wood (oh, oh, am I in trouble here with all you wood lovers out there?).  My mom doesn't get it either as she is a big fan of natural wood ... then again she also loves brass ... enough said.

My big hesitation =  I'm afraid of making. it. look. worse.  A little inspiration from Centsational Girl (Kate) and Marion from MissMustardSeed was all it took to give me a kick in the pants, so to speak, as these gals yield paint brushes like nobody's business! 

So before I lost my nerve, I disassembled the cabinet making notes of what pieces of hardware belonged where (sounds obvious, but I have made the mistake before of thinking I could remember).  Then after taping off the windows I used some BEHR primer and primed all of the wood as well as the laminate back.  





Then after deciding where I was going to be distressing the piece, I took a can of Rust-oleum's Espresso spray paint and sprayed those areas.  


After that dried, I used a small foam roller to apply several coats of Benjamin Moore's Oxford White in an eggshell finish (I think it was three coats).  Then with a sanding block I sanded the piece in the areas where I wanted it to look distressed.  You can see where I got a little keen on the sanding as I sanded right through the espresso paint right down to the pine.  I'm okay with that though as it gives it some dimension, which is simply fancy talk for "it looks okay so I'm just gonna leave it"!  :o)


While I still need to apply a coat of Poly to the cabinet to seal everything before putting the TV back on, I have to say that I am very happy with the final results!  There.  One more thing that I can check off my list ... now on to the next! 

Linking this post to Furniture Feature Fridays & Fireflies & Jellybeans