Before & After: Mediocre Melamine Cabinet Gets a Total Transformation

If you remember this Before & After project, then you know Kristen of The Painted Hive is not messing around when it comes to furniture transformations. She’s especially good at taking run-of-the-mill laminate furniture and turning those pieces into polished projects you’d be proud to have at home.

After prepping the cabinet, Kristen resurfaced the entire face with small wooden hexagonal squares, added a base, and painted the sides black. The varying wood grains and finishes give the front a pattern and textured appeal…

Here’s what Kristen has to say about the project:

Rather than take on a sympathetic restoration, I wanted to challenge myself to completely re-imagine something very ubiquitous in the hope of inspiring others to think a bit sideways. I’m sure many of you guys have an item like this languishing away in a dark corner somewhere. Or maybe you’ve frequently passed up similar pieces in charity stores or at garage sales. They do come across as rather potential-less.

Well, despite a few hiccups along the way, numerous vision adaptations and those customary moments of self-doubt (I really didn’t think I was going to pull this one off!), things actually worked out in the end and I’m stoked with the result!

The greatest part is that Kristen did this as part of the Re-Love Project, and the finished piece will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to charity. You can read more about the Re-Love Project over on Kristen’s blog.

You can see the entire project, with step-by-step instructions, over on The Painted Hive.