Linen Cupboard Makeover

I mentioned a good while ago, in a Lockdown post, that I was going to makeover our linen cupboard. It's a vintage cupboard that I've had for a good few years, and has been the perfect place over the last few years to house our towels and more importantly the vacuum cleaner. Here are a few pictures of it:

I believe it dates from the 1930's or thereabouts and was a gentleman's wardrobe. It has shelves and drawers with name tags for the different items that were supposed to be housed in it. I took out the hanging rail some time ago, as it was never used and the hanging space is just big enough to house our Henry type vacuum cleaner and lock it away out of sight.

It also has a lift up lid, under which are more compartments to keep other small accessories or linens in this case. I like this piece of furniture, as it is the perfect size to sit on the landing upstairs, but after buying it 7 or 8 years ago, I never got around to doing anything with it. It was looking a bit worse for wear, so I thought I might give it a makeover with some paint.

I decided to use some leftover chalk paint that I'd used to paint the inside of the vestibule cupboard downstairs. There was only enough left to paint one coat on the back of the cupboard, so I went out and bought a second tin to complete the front and sides.

Above is a picture of when I'd almost finished the painting, just the underside of the lid left to paint and then the whole cabinet needed a coat or two of varnish to give it a better finish, as chalk paint makes furniture look so flat and dull.

After finishing the varnishing, I just needed to get OH to add the new latch, so that I could securely close the cupboard and then it was finished. I also got him to add in an old metal kitchen rack that was kicking around unused in a cupboard in the kitchen, so that I could store some cleaning products on it for when I clean upstairs. At least it had the benefit of making use of some of the space that wasn't already being used in the cupboard.

Here's a final couple of photographs of the finished project:

In all honesty, it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.  The varnish I used over the paint wasn't the best thing to use to get a good finish (it was floor varnish), but it was something that we already had lying around. I'm happy enough with the result though, as it looks a little tidier and at least it's another item ticked off the Lockdown To Do List which is very satisfying.