Furniture Flip Challenge 3

Update! See the final piece below 🙂

So back in January and February, when I was shopping for pieces to add to our little bedroom makeover (like our bed that I refinished!), I got just a little addicted to browsing Facebook marketplace. As a result, my workshop got a little stuffed with project pieces. As I was working on trim work for the Cliffhanger a couple of weeks ago, I knew I needed to prioritize those pieces, because I have NO room to work!

Shortly after that, I saw that a new Furniture Flip Challenge had started. (Check out their site here!) I thought it would be a great way to give myself a deadline and get one of those little pieces done. And it’s a great way to work on learning some new skills.

I didn’t want to do anything too big or daunting, as my primary focus right now is finishing up at the flip house. But I pulled out this little guy that I found at Goodwill for $8.

I picked this piece up because I loved the unique pulls on it and how it fit so well into the decorative trim on the drawers. I wanted those pulls to pop out rather than blending in with the wood. I also didn’t love the bulky trim around the bottom.

I started by sanding down the top a bit to get it smooth for painting. Then I tackled the bottom. Most of it came off pretty easily as it was simply screwed on.

I then cut the bottoms off the sides with a jigsaw and created this stumpy little guy.

The Base

I struggled with what to put on the bottom. I wanted it to have little feet, but I needed a way to attach them, and I struggled with a style to go with. I also wanted to keep this project on the frugal side, and compared to the $8 price tag on the piece itself, adding in feet and brackets just seemed to be too expensive. Add in a case of covid quarantine and not being able to go to the store, I decided to make a bottom on my own from scrap.

I wanted the piece to be up off the ground, but adding plain straight legs just wouldn’t jive with the rest of the piece.

To attach legs to the piece, I decided to make a base out of 1x material. To add in a bit of flair, I routed a 3/8″ cove into 1×3. (You can see in the pic below that I used 1×2 for the front and 1×3 on the sides… it’s just what I had on hand.)

After mitering the ends, I clamped, glued and stapled the base together before letting it sit overnight.

The next day I screwed the 2×2 legs in from the top, then screwed the base to the bottom of the cabinet. To soften the legs,I cut these out of 1×3 and glued and nailed into the legs.

Painting!

To get ready to paint, I vacuumed the piece and cleaned it with Phosphate free TSP. I then wiped it with a tack cloth and started painting. I had recently picked up this new Fusion Mineral Paint color Blue Pine. I knew I wanted a blue or grey with the brass pulls, and it was fun to try out this new color.

The Final Piece (and A Bit More Color)

And now you can really see the unique pulls that seemed to have been made for this piece!

I also wanted to add some fun inside with some wallpaper. Again, I was a homebound, so I pulled out this extra paper I had used on my nightstand. I couldn’t believe how well it matched the blue!