So I have had this little cabinet in my home my entire adult life.
It was a gift from my parents when I was in 8th grade to hold my records and cassette tapes.
To clarify for my younger readers, that’s like a cabinet to hold your iTunes gift cards.
Originally it was white.
Then I think they painted it a robin egg blue.
Then hunter green. Then I painted it black.
So it has been sitting in my kitchen for the past five years holding photo albums instead of record albums.
I love this little guy, but I couldn’t help but notice how it looked a little blah lately.
I tried to help it out by painting the knobs white.
But it still looked sad.
Then I accidentally got white paint on the top of the cabinet.
I almost cried when this happened because if I remember correctly, my mom stained the top of this for me years ago and here I ruined it in one fell swoop.
So I guess in a way it was fate intervening to get me off my butt and finally paint it.
Okay, maybe not fate but me being lazy and impatient.
I emptied the photo albums and carried my record cabinet to the garage to begin the painting process.
I didn’t take any step-by-step pictures.
I think we all know what a primed and sanded piece of furniture looks like, right?
Personally, when I read a blog, I skip to the bottom to see the end anyway.
But let me quickly tell you my thought process.
– originally I was going to paint it a cream color
-then I decided after sanding it and priming it that I would like it to be a funky color
– I had some Strawflower (yellow) spray paint by Rustoleum in the garage. Yes, I said spray paint!
– after one coat of Strawflower, I ran out of paint.
-so I went to Home Depot with a four-year-old four days later to find more Strawflower, only to find out that they don’t carry it anymore.
– after 110 paint swatches and saying hello to the Behr Bear 30 (I’m not joking) times with the four-year-old, I decided I could live with a different color.
-I settled on Warm Yellow by Rustoleum.
So after approximately four coats of Warm Yellow, it looked like this:
BUT…
There were drip lines on the front of this guy. Not from the spray paint, but from the primer.
I sanded and sanded…..probably four or five times….nothing.
The drips wouldn’t budge.
And since my standards are so low, I made an executive decision.
It was going to look distressed.
So after the last coat of spray paint, I did a little recreational sanding.
Let’s just say it is superb for the soul to do a little recreational sanding.
Apples are back up to three bucks a pound at the grocery?
SAND SAND SAND!
We owe our state more money in taxes?
SAND SAND SAND!
I gained three pounds last week even after sticking to my diet AND running three days a week?
SAND SAND SAND!
The Kardashians?
SAND SAND SAND!
So let me tell you about the deal of the century.
I needed knobs to replace the original knobs on this cabinet.
Because they were getting nasty, and since I had already done a really half-ass job of spray painting them, I needed new ones.
Here is a tip: don’t try to save money by spray painting knobs.
Go out and buy new ones.
Don’t believe HGTV or other DIY bloggers when they tell you how easy it is.
It isn’t easy. They have other people doing it for them.
So I was at my craft store a few weeks ago and found some really cute turquoise knobs on sale for 50% off.
$4.99 originally minus half off, and I needed six.
And I was okay-ish with spending 20 bucks on the knobs because basically this project wasn’t costing me anything but a couple cans of spray paint.
Then I happened to see the clearance section and I found these:
40 cents each.
I couldn’t believe it.
But here is the thing, anytime anything cute is on clearance for that low, there is a catch.
Especially with letters.
Usually only X’s or Z’s remain.
And who can spell anything without vowels?
But I was able to come up with something.
Uplift.
I know, I scare myself sometimes.
The first thing I thought of?
Bras.
Or brighten your spirits. Either way.
So if you are doing the math?
That is 40 cents times six.
Which is $2.40 for all six of these.
See my little owl lamp?
My mom got one on Target online, and I loved him so much that I got one as a birthday present to myself!
He makes me smile every time I look at him.
Total cost for my furniture project?
Under six bucks.
Now I just need to find some records to put in it.
🙂
A Grace Full Life 
Seriously so cute! I love the Yellow and the knobs! The owl lamp is cute too! I am visiting from the HOH link party and I am a new follower! I bog over at http://www.garagesalesrus.blogspot.com/ Check us out when you get a chance!
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Oh girl!! That is a beautiful record holder!! Love the color! I got some of those same knobs on sale…but they were still like .99…what a steal!! Way to go!
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What a beautiful redo, the yellow and awesome knobs look fabulous! I'm a new reader, blogging over at http://twelveoeight.blogspot.com/Hugs, Tanya 🙂
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You just totally made my day reading this post!! You are awesome!! First, Happy Belated Birthday! Second, I love that you made it on the news! So fun! I also love the part about the sanding. What a good way to get some aggression out! And oh my ADORABLE!!!!! I LOVE the makeover on the table! It is Gorgeous! I love the distressing you did to it!! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Thursday's Temptation.Jill
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Oh, I love it!Especially the "UPLIFT"-ing message and its frugal price tag.Awesome job. Now I'm off to search Target for that lamp!P.S. The Kardashian family would make me sand my butt off too.
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I love everything about the up-cycle! Well done… And the owl lamp is the perfect accent. 🙂
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What a steal on the knobs!! It looks amazing! We're so glad you joined us for "Strut Your Stuff Saturday." Thanks and come back soon!! -The Sisters
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This is too cool! How about those knobs? So creative of you!You know, I miss records. . . something about their scratchy sound was kind of cool. :)Thank you so much for joining Grace at Home. I really appreciate it. Bless you!
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Happy Birthday! And you did a great job on your cabinet. I can scarcely believe it's the same piece. Thanks so much for linking up to Fabulous Friday at Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust. Warmly, Michelle
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