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Vintage Victrola Liquor Cabinet/ Bar

A friend of mine had this old victrola that she had given up on refurbishing and passed it on to me. I enthusiastically went about dismantling the non-working parts of this piece with a vision of making it into a wine bar.

But like my friend, I lost steam and the victrola sat for months. It needed so much cleaning that I kept putting it off. The wood was beautiful but needed so much work that I thought this was a good opportunity to try out some new paints.

I realized when I took out the parts, I would have to add a shelf to the inside of the lid. Also, the bottom of the main interior compartment was so bad that I decided to add a new piece of wood in there as well.

I finally got up the energy and cleaned it all up with TSP. I did a coat of shellac to seal in the tannins (to keep the old, rich wood from bleeding through the paint).

I painted with two coats of Wise Owl Paints in Limestone for the exterior and Higgins Lake for the interior. I almost gave up on painting the inside of the small doors because they are soooo long and narrow, it was very difficult. But I managed to keep going and get the job done!

I added a wash of Shabby Paints Black Revax to enhance the slight crackling/ distressing.

And now for the fun part!!!

I added some French Typography onto the two front main doors.

"Wine & Spirits Specialty Fine Wines"

After cutting the new shelf, painting and revaxing it, I hand stained the images of the wine glass and corkscrew. For this part, I tried out my Shabby Paints Gelato gel stain in Licorice.

And for the icing on the cake.... I hand stained the image of the wine/ barrel/ grapes onto the top of the victrola. I call this technique stain shading or stain painting (or shading with stain.... can't seem to come up with a proper term).

I sealed all areas with a quality top coat for protection.

I forgot to mention, I left the inside of the lid in its natural state because the wood in that area was so beautiful and it also has the original Victrola mark.

I then started working on the hardware... I cleaned it all up and applied gilding paste to the original hardware. I added hanging hardware for glassware behind those two small doors.

I also added hardware on each side - a towel bar, and a hook for hanging corkscrew, bottle opener, or any other necessities.

I attached the original metal Victrola plate onto the new shelf in the lower corner

And now, she is ready to go!

Thanks for following along on this latest stained furniture art. If you would like to see more, please check out my website!

And also, follow along on Facebook and Instagram!

On to another furniture are piece.... stay tuned...

xoxo,

~Michelle

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