Thrift Store Finds: Bookcase to Bar Cabinet Upcycle

Thrift store Finds: Upcycled Bar Cabinet

Book Case to Bar Cabinet Upcycle!

I love finding unique furniture at the local thrift stores or garage sales. The pieces I find always need a little DIY magic and can be re-purposed into anything. Most of the time I am looking for something for a specific need, this time I was looking for a piece of furniture that my little mini-fridge could live in. I decided that it would be cool to have a bar cabinet idea, where I could hang wine glasses, store beverages in addition to hiding, I mean, housing my mini-fridge.

I came upon a beauty at the local thrift store for $40 bucks!

I got lucky that it has enough space in the bottom cabinet to house the mini-fridge while being narrow enough to fit the room it would go in.

the first thing i did was to remove the old, out-dated hardware. In the picture above, I had already removed the hardware and patched the old holes with wood filler. I then marked and drilled the holes for the new hardware I had purchased.

 The next step was to replace some of the door latches that weren't working properly. I was surprised to find new replacements at the local hardware store. they were pretty cheap too, like a buck or less depending on the size. They were easy to install because I tried to get the same size and then just put the new ones in the same spots as the old ones.

 Once the cabinet doors were working properly, I began to paint the cabinet. I chose a navy blue chalk paint. I used a brush for the detail and hard to reach areas and a small foam roller for the rest.

 Then I applied a back splash to the open part of the cabinet. I used a product that looks like tin ceiling tiles but is actually plastic. It was easy to cut to fit the cabinet, and then glued to the back using liquid nails. if you are noticing the cords coming from the top: this sweet cabinet has lights that are behind the shelves to illuminate the top 2 shelves and one light in the pull down cabinet. (love it!)

 After the paint was dry, I applied a coat of clear wax to the entire painted area. I applied the new hardware, a wine glass hanger, and moved the cabinet into the house.

 I love the way it turned out and I also love that it has lights in it! It is so much better than the mini-fridge on an old TV stand that was there before! I already have more cabinet space in my kitchen since moving all my wine glasses to the glass hanger!

Here it is with the lights off

 Here is a shot with the doors open.

the wine glass hanger.

The cute glass knobs:)

Before and after!

Check out more of my thrift store Upcycle projects:

Vintage Kitchen Table Upcycle

Upcycle a Thrifted Chair for $10

Thrifted TV Table

Upcycle Console Table

Vintage Table Upcycle!

While browsing the local thrift store, I came across this cute little table and chairs set. A sweet vintage drop-leaf table with two little matching chairs. It needed a bit of work, it was painted a terrible brown. I was so excited to get started on it that I never took a before picture. :( So this is the best I have.... I took this picture after I began to sand the paint off of the table top. As you can see, the top was in bad shape. My initial plan was to just stain the top with a dark stain like "Kona", But the marks on the top were still visible after I had applied the stain so  I decided on applying a stencil to the top as well. This is something I have done before and you can see it HERE  on this piece, since it has the drop sides, I started the pattern in the middle of the table and followed it out to the edges so that the pattern flowed across the entire top.

After finishing the table top, I painted the legs with a light gray chalk paint and topped that with clear wax. Then, I distressed the legs with sandpaper for a rustic look. I repeated this process with the chairs.

It turned out awesome! I'm really happy with it. Now, I just need to find a place for it!