Okay, if there’s anything you know about me, it’s likely my addiction to vintage furniture. Free is best, as is anything mid-century and/or with an Asian influence. Here’s the latest Craigslist find that I’m obsessed with! I’m also happily surprised it was easy to fix up! Sometimes, you don’t need to paint or refinish – just a little clean-up and furniture polish can go a long way! If you love seeing furniture transformations, I will link to some of my other favorites in this post.

When I first spotted it, I was excited by the hardware details, but I resisted, because I didn’t have a spot for it and already have a bit of a problem with accumulating things… But I couldn’t stop thinking about it and when I asked about the measurements, it turned out it was smaller than I thought and would work for a project I had in the works – a little heads up that I’m going to try to do the One Room Challenge this spring. I finished one (the kids bathroom in our last house) and started a second (Kai’s old room, which was left half-done both on the blog and in real life). Knowing how hectic life gets, I’m planning ahead for April to work on our entry foyer.

When we picked up the cabinet, the finish looked pretty dinged up, especially on top. I’ve repainted many items (a mid-century dresser, a mid-century nightstand, a faux campaign dresser, a curbside end table, a Thomasville bar, these stenciled nightstands…), but the wood on this cabinet seemed too pretty to paint. At the same time, the quality of the piece (veneer), did not seem worth going through a major refinishing project. I decided to see how far I could get with some cleaning, light sanding, and furniture polish… and it turned out better than I hoped!

The finish is definitely not perfect, but it looks good, and given this is going to get a lot of wear in our foyer, I think it looks just right! Not sure why Finn is so curious. Maybe the orange and lemon oil smells edible to him 🙂

Stay tuned to (hopefully) see how I incorporate this into our foyer later this spring!

Love seeing vintage furniture finds transformed? Here are some more:

• Faux bamboo armchairs
• Chippendale chairs
• Hall cabinet
• mid-century dresser
• mid-century nightstand
• faux campaign dresser
• curbside end table
• Thomasville bar
• stenciled nightstands
• Queen Anne chairs
• Faux bamboo mirror
• Parisian mirror
• rattan headboard

Julie AKA “Jewels”