May 12th, 2025

Author: donich_admin

A “Japanese” Cabinet

The Victorians were very fond of all things Japanese (hence the Mikado), and I am planning for a Japanese influenced office in our new house.

So what could I conceivably do with this?  A very modern laminate office cupboard which I was going to discard.

But then I thought again.  An antique cupboard, or even a reproduction one would have cost a lot of money so I thought I would see what I could do to salvage the old one.  I took the handles off and painted the whole thing with primer.  Then I gave it two thin coats of black chalk  paint and attached two “temple door” style handles (£6.99).  I bought two unpainted wood decorative medallions, sprayed them gold and then aged them with a bit of beeswax polish.  Finally I gave it three coats of satin varnish.

Not really Japanese at all, but looks quite nice, cost about £35 in total and saved putting a functional cupboard on the tip.  So not bad for a few hours work.