Antique Sideboard Glow Up

Over Christmas break, I thought a lot about the need for a better storage solution for my chocolate supplies. As my collection of molds, flavourings, colorants, and tools has grown, I've tried a variety of solutions. First there was a cute blue rolling cart that I found in the trading area of my building. Then when I moved my baking supplies into a new cabinet, I repurposed the Rubbermaid cart for molds. Soon there was a pile next to these carts and everything started looking cluttered.

And so I spent some time over Christmas looking at options available to me. There wasn't much in stock at Canadian Tire or Home Depot, and what was available seemed expensive given that it's made of MDF. I considered ordering from Amazon, but then worried about it arriving damaged (or it being dropped in the lobby while I am at work). As much as I would love a trip to Ikea, I knew I wasn't likely to do that before the spring. 

I started contemplating the secondhand options in town and then did something I never do -- I looked at Facebook Marketplace. I quickly found a number of listings for sideboards at a used furniture store in a nearby community and decided to make the pilgrimage there for when they opened the next day. 

When I arrived, they were loading furniture onto the truck and they commented that if I picked out something in the next 20 minutes, then they would deliver it the same day. No problem, I thought, as I strolled around. I walked the perimeter and stopped in front of an antique sideboard unlike any other in the showroom. "I'll take it." The guy was a bit dumbfounded by how quickly I made the decision, but then flipped the sign over to SOLD without missing a beat. (I also picked out a new chest of drawers for my bedroom to replace a collapsible, cloth wardrobe.) I quickly paid and then headed straight home to clear a path for the sideboard that would have to roll past the Christmas tree and presents. Two hours later, it was in place. 

Now, this tiger oak wood sideboard needed a little love. The spindles holding up the top shelf were spinning freely and had to be toenailed into place. The mirror was rattling with every movement and needed the wooden backing put back into place. A few pronounced scratches needed to be coloured with a wax pencil and furniture marker. The molding along the top shelf had to be glued and clamped into place. The drawers required some shelf liner and one needed a cutlery tray to be functional. My boyfriend and I (but mostly my boyfriend) tackled each task over a two week period while waiting for new pulls to arrive.

You see, a few of the wooden pulls were missing and broken. And while it was tempting to try to match the originals, I had in my head that it needed a bit of an art deco vibe with glass drawer knobs. Green glass drawer knobs, to be exact. They couldn't be procured locally, but Amazon was happy to bring the world to my door. We struggled to install them because each section required a different length of screw, but we persisted. And I'm glad we did. 

One last piece that bothered me was that only one of the three keyholes still had its brass plate. If I could, I wanted to replace those as well. I had little luck with my searching until I discovered the term "escutcheon," which according to Google is "a flat piece of metal for protection and often ornamentation, around a keyhole, door handle, or light switch." Who knew? Armed with that term, I quickly found what I was looking for and ordered them. The installation was tedious, but not difficult. We completed the three over a 2-day period. And when I say we, I mean my boyfriend carefully widened the keyholes with a hand file until the escutcheons fit. He's been a great partner in the glow up of this sideboard. 

The storage space inside is incredible. All of my chocolate molds fit in the bottom drawer. The left side of the middle section contains all of my chocolate supplies, while the right side is now storage for board games. The top left drawer contains my Aunt Mona's cutlery, making it much more accessible for entertaining. And the right drawer contains some seasonal stoneware.

It will take some time to decide exactly what to put on top of the sideboard, since the mirror will reflect everything, but for now I'm loving this as the home for my green glass decanter, a gift many years ago from my late Aunt Rosella and Uncle Mike. A treasure from our antique and flea market days in the late '90s, this Italian blown glass piece features an ice chamber for chilling white wine. I have a few more pieces of green glass that may also suit the vibe. 

Until then, I couldn't be happier with this restoration. It feels like this sideboard was meant to be with me.

If you're curious, here's the before pic: