My Favorite Furniture Repurposing Hack

Transform a cabinet of any type into a sideboard or decorative piece of furniture by adding legs or bun feet that you can buy at your local home improvement store.

So while I couldn’t paint yesterday I took on a fast and easy furniture makeover project that didn’t require any paint. Not quite a makeover, but I added store bought parts to transform an existing wall cabinet into a decorative piece of furniture.

If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember my desk in my previous kitchen where I placed two random pieces of furniture together to create a desk.

The bottom sideboard was a hand-me-down from my grandmother. The top china cabinet was a hand-me-down from Ed’s grandparents. The two pieces lived happily like this for years until we moved and there wasn’t a place for them to be used in the same manner in the lake house.

I gave away quite a lot of furniture and other stuff when we moved, but knew I wanted to keep these two pieces and just had to think about other ways I could use each piece.

The sideboard sat un-used in our bedroom until I found a way to use it last spring. I did and it looks fabulous in its role as a powder room vanity now.

The china cabinet I was storing in my studioffice took me a little while longer to find a new use for. I gave that room a clean-out and makeover earlier this year and many of you gave me great suggestions on how I could use it in the room, but even though I loved the piece, it didn’t match the look and feel I was going for in my studioffice. 

I did come up with a plan for it though and moved it upstairs to one of the guest rooms. To make it into a functional piece of furniture all I needed to do was add a simple 15 minute hack to it.

Remember how I used bun feet to transform these wood library files…

and also more recently the metal file drawers I bought back in the fall at Nest Fest?

Yesterday I added 4 bun feet to the china cabinet top to repurpose it into a place for my guests to place their smaller belongings (watches, jewelry, etc.) when they are staying with us.

I didn’t paint the feet white this time though. I stained them a light maple to match the color of the stripped bird’s eye maple china cabinet.

This cabinet used to be stained a dark maple and had a shiny coat of poly on it. I stripped it 4 years ago. You can read how I did that in this post: Furniture Finishing – Wood Stripping Basics

I bought the mirror at Kirkland’s.  It was on sale for half price. Quite a deal I could not pass up. I have it leaning on the wall until I paint the walls in the room. Once that is done, I will hang it. I will eventually place baskets, books, magazines, maps and other stuff for my guests to use in the cabinet itself.

How to Add Bun Feet to Repurpose a Wall Cabinet into a Credenza or Sideboard

*affiliate links used

supplies needed: 

• 4 Bun Feet or any screw-on style wood feet made for furniture. They cost the least at the Home Depot.
• 4 Straight Metal Top Plates  – In the past I have used square plates, but could not find them and bought the triangular style. Now that I have used both, I prefer the triangular ones as they offer more support for the feet. Note: Make sure the plates are for straight applications. Some plates have angled screw holes for peg-leg style feet that when mounted will angle out from the base. 
• Power Screwdriver
• Pencil and ruler
• Optional: Paint or Stain. For this cabinet I used Stain Conditioner and Colonial Maple Stain

1. Stain or paint each foot and let dry.
2. Figure out where to place the feet. If the furniture is going to be up against the wall, make sure the back feet are in line with the back of the cabinet. If they stick out beyond this, the cabinet will not be able to be flush with the wall.
3. Use a ruler and pencil to mark the placement of each metal plate.

3. Use a power screwdriver to attach the plates to the bottom of the cabinet. Screw a foot into each plate.

All done!  

The top of the cabinet has never been seen before.  The wood is not maple and is a different color. To make it look better, I applied a coat of White Wax to it and buffed it to a sheen. I may end up doing something different eventually, but for now I am happy that this cabinet has a new purpose in its long hand-me-down life. :-)

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