Pressed tin and chicken wire cabinet

Good morning, our house is a little quiet this morning with Sasha off on music camp. Funny how much the dynamic can change with one less kid in the house. Today I wanted to share a cabinet makeover that I nearly didn't do. I sourced this cupboard last week and then because the doors needed some major repairs and I'm pressed for time with our holiday coming up and a lot of custom work to finish before hand, I thought I would pass the cabinet on to a friend who also paints furniture. My friend said she'd get her husband to come pick it up on the weekend but he forgot so I decided to tackle it myself and I'm so glad I did. Sometimes you just need to get stuck into a project. Feel the fear and do it anyway :)

I picked this cabinet up from a house that was being demolished in Chatswood. When I got there the lady said Oh sorry I can't help you carry it and please don't ask my neighbour to help you, I don't want to bother him. I wish she had told me she wouldn't help carry it before I drove there in Saturday morning horrendous Sydney traffic. I decided I wasn't leaving without it (the traffic had been especially bad) so I lugged it out the house and across the yard all by myself - no wonder my back is sore. It wasn't especially heavy - just tall and awkward. (1.86 cm)

I had to do a lot of repairs to the doors and I decided to replace the tin with wire mesh. Not only was the cabinet missing a piece of tin, the wire mesh gives the cabinet a lighter feel to it anyway.  The doors don't sit perfectly straight but it's the best I could make it. Old pieces always have their problems.

The right hand door was also missing a piece of trim so I went to several timber yards and Bunnings but couldn't find a matching piece. In the end I decided to just use a similar piece of trim and have it perfectly imperfect. Sometimes that's all you can do.

and here's some shots of before and in progress

It seems my customers don't mind perfectly imperfect either as there is a queue of people to buy this one.

Fiona xx