Turning the Old Into New...or Old

I have been in need of a project.  Don't get me wrong, I love taking care of my sweet baby but I needed something to do that had nothing to do with baby talk, diapers, or spit up.  My husband acquired an old china cabinet from his Great Aunt Carol. 

It was a simple cabinet that did the job but it needed a makeover...I needed it, it needed me, perfect!
I scoured the Internet for ways to give this cabinet a new look and I decided to make it look older and give it the distressed look.  Thankfully a long weekend was coming up and my husband owed me for a golf game that required him to be away from home for several hours so off to Lowes I went!
First I sanded the entire thing.  I was a little disappointed to find out it wasn't completely made of real wood.  Well I guess technically it was, but not the type that I could use liquid sandpaper.  That would have saved a lot of time but I really needed a good arm workout so I did it the old fashioned way.
On went the primer. 

Now let me just let you know that if you are going to do a project like this then you can skip the primer if you are working with a good wood piece and use the liquid sandpaper.  It will wash the wood out a bit doing a similar job that the primer would and you get to skip a step!
While the primer was drying I spray painted the inside.  I decided to go with a dark green. 

Word to the wise, if you spray paint anything always use a mask, particularly if you are spraying the inside of a cabinet because it will all come back at you.  Oh an wear protective eye wear as well.  I am in need of new sunglasses so I just wore my old ones!  Because this cabinet has glass I used painters tape and some plastic from my drop cloth to cover it so I would not be scraping paint off glass for weeks.
After the primer dried (which takes forever because it is sticky and a pain to work with), I added my first coat of paint.  I was a little worried because the color I chose seemed so bright but I figured I would make it work somehow.  I put on one more coat and the let that dry overnight.
The next day I got out the sandpaper and roughed up the edges and a few other random spots.  The sandpaper I used was made to strip paint, anything finer would have taken forever.

I also chose to use an antiquing glaze in some of the grooves.  If you are painting a piece a bright color DO NOT try to antique the whole thing.  It will look awful and dirty.  I tried it on the sides of the piece and wound up using a third coat because it looked terrible!  Stick to the the grooves for a bright piece!

Once it was all done I used a light wax to give it that finished look.
Here it is!  I am so proud of this project!  I have my eye on a few other smaller things in my house that I think need a new look as well!

Here are the links to two of my favorite websites with tutorials on giving furniture new looks
http://www.theyellowcapecod.com/2011/08/tutorial-how-to-achieve-potterybarn.html

http://movitabeaucoup.com/2010/07/19/how-to-antique-and-distress-furniture-with-paint/
This one is a great one on using an antiquing glaze.
http://thespeckleddog.blogspot.com/2011/01/glazed-but-not-confused-glazing-101.html