Aquarium Cabinet to Chic TV and Media Stand

My old neighbor offered this blue cabinet to me from his garage as he was making his last trip from the old house. I was hesitant for a moment I wasn't even sure what the purpose of the cabinet was, I have decided now that it may have been an aquarium stand. This cabinet was very sturdy I think and elephant could stand on it...LOL. Anyway back to the story, I took it and later I actually thought about just donating it to a thriftstore. One of my clients had stopped by to look at paint swatches for some side tables and took notice to this cabinet and inquired about it. She had a 60" Flat Screen that needed something Shabulous to sit on. So I began the transformation.

I forgot to take a snapshot at the very beginning so this was taken after I had began. It had Ultra Gloss Paint on it. These big chunky square knobs came off for good and were replaced later with knobs that were very similar to those on her side tables. I didn't get a pic but the cabinet had really short legs on it which made cabinet sit very low to ground. The client decided that she would really prefer stand to be around 24" tall. We chopped down the old feet and installed these cute legs that I picked up at the ReStore it is an outlet/thrift store that sells used and surplus building materials at a fraction of the cost. You can see in this pic below what the legs looked like before they cut down. I will be honest I can run some power tools and I try to be really independent, but having a cute carpenter boyfriend really has its advantages!!! Mike cut these down and installed new legs for me. I also had him install some trim across the lower portion of cabinet in front and on sides. The trim was purchased at the Restore as well . I just love that place!!!

Then of course the paint..... I chose Versailles from Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I recommend this  product to anyone out there that is painting furniture it is a wonderful wonderful paint!!! The transformation was amazing!!!!

I wanted to give proper storage to media cabinet so large holes were drilled into the back of the cabinet to accommodate electrical plugs and cables from components.

I distressed edges to allow blue to show through. The end tables I had previously done for her were blue and I just knew this would be a great way to tie the pieces together, along with the simple brown knobs that are very similar to the other tables.

I love the finished look and my client was so excited she drove over to look at them before the wax dried...LOL. It makes me feel good when the client is just as pleased as I am! 

After talking with my very intelligent and wonderful friend Monica we realized this project could be duplicated very easily with small upper kitchen cabinets. Cant you see it??? HMMM I think I need to go check Craiglist. LOL

  

First Blog Post

I feel kind of silly that I haven't taken the time to set up a blog until now. It is something that I have wanted to do for quite some time but felt completely overwhelmed by trying to figure out how to set it all up. It wasn't as hard as I anticipated it to be. I am sure as I start blogging about my furniture redos I will get the hang of it and can figure out how to make this blog as beautiful as some of the other blogs I follow. But first let me tell you a little bit about me and my beloved little business called Shabulous. (it just seems right to have my first blog as an intro)

So my name is Kelly and I have 3 children with HUGE personalities; Chelsea Belle is my oldest and even though she is now a teenager I still consider her my little princess....and believe me she still thinks she is a princess too. LOL She is also very creative and helps me out with furniture redos, in fact she just sold her first piece in my window over at Kimmie Lou's Boutique. Westin is my middle child and he is a video game addict, he loves to hang out with his friends and play ball out in the street and then lucky me all those million (anywhere from 2-5 neighborhood) smelly little preteen boys fill up my living room afterwards for some gaming. My youngest is Will he could be considered to some as a bit of a mischief maker but I know him as my little baby. He is very active loves playing outdoors and is very passionate about dogs. This kids knows every pitbull rescue site on the net is constantly begging me let him get one. So as you can see these kiddos fill my world with excitement and craziness. 

As a single parent, I really found myself struggling working full time to support the fam. I have always been a stay at home mom and spent the days crafting away on anything I could think of, this was sorely missing from my life in my new role as a working mom. Not to mention the kids were very unhappy. They had to get themselves on the bus for school in the morning and nobody was home to greet them in the afternoon. By the time I got home from my commute, the last thing I wanted to do was cook dinner or clean, and was so tired I wasn't much help with homework either. This clearly wasn't working. In November when I lost my job from a non-profit organization I had to think fast on how I was going to provide. 

A few years prior to me becoming a single parent I had turned my hobby of painting furniture into a small business. I mostly did makeovers for friends and family and every couple months I would load up some stuff and set up at antique fairs. Now with some free time on my hands, my friends and family started asking me to work on their furniture again and before I knew it I was selling my furniture in consignment stores, had a growing fan page on Facebook, and started refinishing furniture for actual clients (not my faithful family and friends.) 

I am really excited about my business and the fact that I do all this right here from my own garage. I can drive my kids to school in the morning and greet them in the afternoon. I started actually cooking dinner again and am now available to help out with all the homework that comes home, sadly I still don't want to clean the darn house... (LOL)

I am very passionate about transforming old pieces of furniture into beautiful pieces that people can proudly display in their home. I love the hunt for these items, the vision I get when I find the perfect piece,(I have been known to dream about them or wake up in the middle of the night with an idea) I also enjoy learning during the process of these transformations, and I am always so excited when they are complete, I barely wash my hands before I post pics on FB.

So this blog will be a new tool for me to use, to show all of you how I do what I do! Please subscribe to my posts and be patient with me while I learn how to use this site. I hope to inspire you and encourage you along the way to try some of these things for yourself and hey if your not a DIY kinda person its cool, I sell most of the pieces I create.