The red cabinet!

A few months ago I acquired a piece of furniture from a friend who was moving out of state. It was an antique kitchen hutch that she had painted red... now, in case you don't know, I hoard red kitchen accessories. I am obsessed. Spatulas, kitchen timers, pans, trashcans, dishes you name it. If it's red I am instantly more attracted to it. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to take this hutch off her hands!

But my main reason for falling in love with this cabinet (aside from the color)??
THIS:

 I.  Love.  Skeleton.  Keys.

She was in pretty rough shape when I first got her:

Don't mind the kitty!

The cabinet was super old and I'm not sure my friend had much experience refinishing furniture, but she tried her best.  The paint was a bit streaky and we knocked it around a little bit on the way out of her second floor window (yeah, that's right.) and up my stairs.
It was also missing the original hardware. No big deal right? Wrong.
The cabinet had the original lock boxes for the top two cabinet doors only.
The ones for the bottom were missing. Impossible to replace.
The holes for all the handles were drilled for a size that no longer exists! I scoured hardware stores, antique stores and the internet (where I only  found some mismatched handles for $40... PER piece.) Finally I had to give up and bite the bullet. I purchased some handles in modern sizes and drilled each of the holes out 1/4 of an inch to accept them. While I was at it, I drilled some holes for handles on the top and bottom doors to fit some cute knobs I found.

Another strange issue:

The one coat of paint dried tacky for whatever reason so all the liner paper embedded itself into the shelves!

There was also a strange little metal drawer part that needed some TLC. 

Still can't figure out it's originally intended purpose. 

My guess is breadbox?

A little bummed that the plates were painted.

First step was disassembling the whole thing piece by piece. I took all the doors off and drawers out and started priming the inside of the cabinet... I had a genius idea for it (if I do say so myself)

Aurora helped. At least she thought she did!

My genius idea? Painting the inside of the cabinet white! I thought it would brighten up the whole thing and showcase the dishes a little bit better... looks stark in this picture. Just wait for the doors...

So... after scraping the paint off of the lock plates I added all my hardware, gave her a third coat of shiny fire engine red enamel, caulked the glass windows, added some magnet catches to all the doors (they had a tendency to open on their own haha) and re-located the two lockboxes from the top to the bottom doors (to keep out prying little fingers). When I was all done... my sad little hutch looked like this!! : 

Those little glass things are drawers, by the way. Three are missing.
Also impossible to replace.
Thinking of gluing painted tiles over the holes, but that can wait until I finish some other projects I have on deck. 

At least I can store my dishes somewhere pretty now!!

Now here's a little refresher... BEFORE:

And.... 

AFTER:

TA-DA!!

Not to brag... but... well, I'm awesome at giving new life to furniture. I'll post some of my other pieces soon!