Royally Green Cabinet Makeover

Hello there and welcome August – already!

It just doesn’t seem like it should be AUGUST already.  Right?  Right around the corner is fall and cooler temps and hopefully rain.  Our state is suffering so and I know that there just has to be some relief in sight.  I am going to be an optimist here for that.

So remember the homely gal that I brought home to use out on the patio to store gardening bits?  The original post about HG is linked to HERE. 

I could see that she offered good storage means with her pull out bin drawers that would make for a good storage solution for my husband’s pellets that he uses for his manly BBQ unit.  The drawers, though a bit on the wonky side, will be the resting spot for the garden tools and other small things that just should not be left out in the open for clutter.

So here is the new/old gal…a bit polished up and decorated for now.  I do appreciate all of the wonderful input that so many of my visitors offered.  After painting her “royal beauty” in Benjamin Moore’s “Buckingham Garden”, I wasn’t quite sure that I should do the outside a white and leave the inside green.  My husband really likes the all green color and I appreciate his input in the decision making process.   The green does pop against the beige wall and it is close to the 1940’s green paint that I do so love. 

    Below is the before picture of HG.  I still need to add a magnetic closure for the door on the right. She was originally created with salvaged doors and bits of woods that I would imagine came from either other projects and repurposed or scrapped from a wood pile.  She is a mix of hardwoods and pine.

I found the knobs at Hobby Lobby and love the flower shape and the crazing.  They look old fashion and suitable for a garden cabinet.

The knobs on the glass doors are old glass and I left them on. 

The wavy glass was left intact, although I did entertain the thought of removing it and using chicken wire.  However the glass does provide coverage from the dust and moisture outside.

A galvanized can corrals old garden rakes that are not only sporting a good green paint color, but are used to get into those tight spots of the garden that need to be raked.

Here she waits to be loaded up with accessories.  I want to find a twig garland to sit on top and some more textural organic items, like baskets of flowers, zinc cans, maybe an old scale…but for now, here is what I had on hand.

Garden tools find their place inside a drawer..

….and the BBQ pellets are neatly put away into the bin drawers. 

On top sits some watering cans, a minnow bait bucket and bird house.

White enameled pitchers, chickens, an old egg basket, flower seeds, a bird house and a wonderful bird nest are added to the inside.  Of course, this will all change over time.  

The old toy dump truck will be cute with a potted plant sitting in the back.  I had had it for sale, but decided that I liked it so much and brought it home.  It is a fun piece and would be cute at Christmas with pine cones resting on its back.

Packages of flower seeds are stashed inside one of my favorite sugar containers. 

I bought the Meadow Flowers box from a friend’s space at the store and just love it.  I have seen these boxes in several stores lately and they have different sayings on them.  Though not old, they do lend a vintage touch to the vignette.

This precious nest was intricately made by a bird out on a friend’s ranch.  It is made of some of her horse’s hair and her dog Pearl’s hair.  I love the weeds that have little hearts on them.  So sweet and so special.  The nest was retired before being removed.  Now it rests on top of an old grain scoop.

The details:

Benjamin Moore has chalk paint that you can add any of their colors to, which is what I used for HG.  It comes in a quart size for about 22.00.  About half the price of than ASCP.  I painted the cabinet with half of the quart and finished it off with a clear paste wax.  The paint doesn’t have the same chalkiness to it as AS does, but one could water it down a bit to get a thinner application.  Being as my piece is for outside, I did not water the paint down.  As for sanding the paint for the worn look, it doesn’t sand as easy as AS.  However, I am pleased with the end result.