A stunning metal apothecary cabinet gets a makeover!

So you know those many drawer-ed, super amazing looking and usually rather old apothecary cabinets that you see all over Pinterest and styled by Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper? Yup the ones you envy because they are just so neat looking and lend an air of uniqueness to any space. Yup…we have one!!!

Here is what it looked like prior to it’s makeover.

We found it quite some time ago and frankly kind of forgot about it because we had to put it away in storage. Well, about a month ago we received some new brands of paint to test out. One color completely caught my eye and I immediately thought of that multi-drawer metal apothecary cabinet that was put away in the back of our storage!

We were so excited! Just look at that beauty below! Since it wasn’t one of those old wood ones, but instead a metal piece that had already been painted previously we had no qualms about painting over it. We could see it was in dire need of a fresh coat of paint in a new color.

 

The rusty areas were removed with a wire brush and the whole thing was given a thorough wash down. It was slightly greasy, and quite dirty so these steps were key in preparing it for paint. And I tell you what, it took me pretty much the entire day to take every one of those drawers out, wire brush them, clean them and then clean the entire inside and outside of the body! Whew! After it was cleaned up we gave it a coat of primer that prevents rust from coming back through. Even though we got rid of the little bit of rust, we wanted to take extra precautions in preventing further rust.

Then came the paint – and Oooohhhhhh it was so beautiful! We used Fusion Mineral Paint in a beautiful minty / light seafoam color called “Inglenook“. As soon as I saw this color brushed on, I could tell it was going to look amazing. It gave this metal cabinet a nod to the vintage era it was made in. The paint went on really smooth over the primer on the metal cabinet and it only took 2 coats – which was pretty impressive. Sometimes paint can slide all over metal which is why you need a good base to start, and this paint worked great.

We did leave the original color on the inside of the drawers just to prevent scratches and the paint coming off when sliding the drawers. This had happened previously and I didn’t want it to happen again.

And to top the piece off – literally – we paired a beautiful oak top to give it an updated look and for a nice surface for fun decor items to sit on. We were able to attach it with screws through the top of the metal into the wood top pretty easily.

And isn’t it a beauty! I would proudly display this anywhere in my home, especially in an entryway for a surprise stunner when the door is opened. Or in the living area so I could see and admire it all the time! While we loved it so much we were tempted to keep it ourselves, this pretty piece was shipped out to New Hampshire to it’s new home! (That’s right! We Ship!)

While it was hard to say goodbye to our pretty metal apothecary cabinet, we know it went to a lovely new home and will be cherished!

Products Used

Fusion Mineral Paint in “Inglenook” / Primer / Paint Brush / Wire Brush

I wanted to share a couple photos where we staged this piece a bit differently using fresh flowers as well. The pink really adds a lovely pop of color!