50s Kitchen Cabinet Upcycle

I had been keeping my refurbishment tools and supplies in a cupboard in my hall, a corner of my kitchen and scattered around my garage and felt it was time to sort myself a decent, organised work station.

A local builder advertised an old, damp and mouldy kitchen cabinet for free to get it off their job and so I collected it, narrowly fitting it into the back of my car with Beth seats down.

On closer inspection, she was in a really sorry state, having been stored outside in bad weather for a few months under a flimsy tarpaulin and having already seen 70+ years of service - my husband was very dubious that I could save her!

I removed the rotten base, trimming it down as the cabinet came up high and I'm only 5'2", added a new, stronger base from some scrap ply and some castors in a scarlet red to make moving it around simple when I need to.

Then the graft began! It's all in the sanding and preparation - though this part of boring, it's absolutely worth the elbow grease for a nice smooth finish when you get to painting. Having filled, sanded through several grits and thoroughly cleaned the lot, then I applied gloss cream paint to the body, back and the drawer fronts and cupboards. Inside the cupboard and drawers, I then coated with a shade of chalk furniture paint by Rust-Oleum called 'Firebrick'.

An over night dry and it's time for the good bit! I had a vision of what I wanted the final piece to look like and wanted to reference the Bowie lightning streak in our logo. Using masking tape, I planned out the bolt and then painted part of the cabinet in my favourite colour by Jubilee paints - 'Pillarbox Red'.

Lastly, with much swearing and repeated efforts due to my unsteady hands, I added the Bowie-inspired shadow to the lightning zigzag in 'Metallic Red' by Shabby Chic.

I am delighted with how she turned out and plan to put her to good use as my retro refurb partner in crime!