The fairest of all for my cabinet, please

“I am an attorney practising in Windhoek, have an analytical mind and enjoy solving problems and finding solutions. I have an extroverted personality, but lack a creative mind with regards to interior projects and usually call in the help of friends when it's time to update my furniture.”


Elizabeth Viljoen

The TV cabinet is quite different from what it was before. Give us some background on this piece of furniture and why you decided to re-do it?

I bought the cabinet for a very reasonable price in 2016, when I was studying at university. Having no money as a poor student, the price tag of the cabinet was more motivational than purchasing fancy furniture to complement some other piece. Since then, I have become more aware of the need for my home to be aesthetically pleasing to me, which could be a costly exercise. However, I decided to simply re-do the cabinet since there was nothing wrong with it; all it needed was a sprightly, new look.


Before


After

I called in a friend's advice on how to tackle this project. She advised me on the process, type of paints to choose and inspired me to go all in!

THE STORY UNFOLDS

What steps did you take to revamp the TV cabinet?
I started off by sanding the exterior surfaces and middle shelves of the cabinet. For this I used an electric sander, mainly for the exterior, and manual sanding for the inner shelves.



Thereafter I proceeded to paint the entire cabinet (excluding the back side) with two layers of white paint. I then used brush strokes over portions of the cabinet with both grey and brown paint which resulted in the final "brush paint" look.

My friend recommended Duram paints from the Habitat Colour Collection for this project. For the base paint I used Coastal Spray (Pastel Base) and for the paint strokes I used Fur Seal Deep Base and Howick Falls Deep Base. I made the first brush strokes with the darker colour and then some strokes with the lighter colour, using two paint brushes - one for each colour. For the final touches, I added white paint strokes to obtain a natural blend.

After drying, I coated the cabinet with Clear Gloss Varnish.


Before


After


What aspect of this project did you enjoy the most?
Painting the white layers evenly proved to be quite therapeutic.

What is the design style of the room you are redecorating using this cabinet?
My living room is definitely a timeless, classic interior style with natural (white, grey, cream) colours to complement the black feature wall.

What was your biggest challenge during the project?
For sure the tedious sanding process. I was uncertain whether I had sanded certain surfaces enough whilst progressing.

The inner shelves had to be sanded by hand (with sandpaper), which proved to be quite challenging.

What was the cost of re-doing this cabinet and how long did it take?
A total cost of N$ 727.55 for paint, varnish, brushes and sanding paper and it took approximately three hours, excluding the trips to the paint shop.

Finally, would you do something like this again?
Definitely, the DIY project gave me a sense of accomplishment and joy. It is much more economical to give an item a new look rather than purchasing a brand-new furniture piece.

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