Sewing Machine Cabinet Makeover

The Hubs and I were leaving our self isolation for a quick adventure a few weeks ago and it was trash day. As we pulled out of the drive, The Hubs spotted this old sewing machine cabinet. He stopped and asked if I wanted it?

Yes, you know you have a trash diving issue when everyone you know helps you dig in the trash for gems!

So we loaded this cabinet, complete with a sewing machine, spiders, a pair of grandma glasses and a stapler, and took it home for a sewing machine cabinet makeover!

At first I wasn’t sure what to do with it. And then the more I thought about it, the more excited I was to have found it. I could put it in my studio and actually leave my sewing machine out, ready for use. No more storing it in my studio closet and wagging it out every time I wanted to use it.

What a pain!

First thing I did was clean it out and relocate ( kill) the spiders and ditch the sewing machine. I asked my friend Charlene who is an antique aficionado if the sewing machine had any value.

“Yep”, she said, “as a boat anchor.”

So, we waived goodbye to the sewing machine and gave it a good cleaning with warm water. After a light sanding,  The Hubs helped me take it apart to so that I could paint it.

Don’t judge!

Normally I would cringe at painting an antique, but this one had seen better days and quite honestly, while sturdy, it wasn’t built with that great of wood to start with.

Since I was putting it in my studio, which is navy, hot pink and white, it just made sense to paint it the color of the rest of the furniture. I used General Finishes Klein Blue. It took two coats and once it was finished, I put a water based polyacrylic top coat on it.

When I went to remove that hardware, I realized that they had glued the handles on. In fact, I’m not entirely certain what the handles are made of. So I painted them blue to match the drawer.

The handles on my desk are a bright shiny gold. So I painted the detail and the handles on the sewing machine cabinet a bright gold too. I used Martha Stewart metallic gold, which is truly my favorite!

Once I was finished painting the front of the drawers, I lined each of them with a fun drawer liner. A fun drawer liner is a favorite of mine, they make me smile every time I open a drawer!

I was so excited to get it into my studio! I set it up, filled the drawers and stepped back to get a great photo and then I saw the cords.

Which are a BIG pet peeve of mine.

So, I did what any cord hating girl would do, I got out my Cordmate. If you haven’t seen this, it is a hard plastic tube with a slot in the side to stuff your cord into with a sticky back.

Genius!

Cordmate is so easy to use.

It comes in 4 ft lengths, just cut the cordmate the size you want, adhere it to the back of furniture or wall and stuff your cord into the side slot.

No more sloppy cord hanging down.

I am so happy that The Hubs talked me into bringing this cabinet home! Now I’m motivated to organize the rest of my sewing accessories. Who knew that they had so many sewing organization tools?

Until next time!

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