My dining room and a painted cabinet

Our dining room serves double duty as the place where we pay our bills

as well as where we eat most of our meals and entertain. Since Mr. Maison Decor

and I both have home businesses in addition to all those household bills, our

paperwork has been difficult to contain. I came up with the idea of using

a large china cabinet as our home office. Its the best way I could think of

to keep on top of it all, but not have to constantly hide it or have it scattered

all over the table top. Its working out fantastic! I have little labels inside

the upper cabinet on the back wall of each section which lets us know at a

glance what goes where. You can put your finger on what you need in a flash

now. I am figuring out if I want to put fabric or decorative paper behind the wire

doors to hide the paperwork, but that will be for another day. For now,

just getting this beast painted and embellished and waxed was a triumph

for me, as I rarely have time home to focus on these projects.

This is the before photo. I had a decorative wallpaper on this wall which I

had to remove once the large cabinet went in place. Next was to figure out

how I wanted to paint it....I chose Louis Blue Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan.

I toned down the blue by dry brushing a mix of the same blue with Pure White.

After that I added some graphics using a transfer method to add a bit of subtle

detail on the bottom of the cabinet. I chose some French graphics that I found

on Graphics Fairy.com.

She has free graphics and you can print out what you

want using a laser jet printer, then apply with our Artisan Enhancements Transfer Gel

that we sell online and in our shop. Let the image dry onto the piece overnight,

then remove the white paper with a damp scrubby sponge and the graphics are revealed!

The graphics float on the gel base that you used to "glue" the paper in position.

Its pretty easy and the results speak for themselves.

I used some French font for the drawer faces and then a

decorative image and more font for the center two cabinet fronts.

Lightly distressed and soft looking was my goal.

Highlights of Silver Gilder Paste around the edges add a touch of glimmer.

This room has a mix of silver and gold and different shades of blue.

My purple transferware collection is kept in this room

and some of it adorns the walls.

The beaded sconces are new and I just threw them up there,

but I plan to remove the plate above each sconce and

raise them as the position now is not ideal.

Lovely faux florals include the lavender found at HomeGoods.

I gravitate towards French style florals of course,
and these are perfect in my home. An antique looking mirror from HomeGoods
anchors this wall display. The large pillows, also from HomeGoods,
sit on our antique lidded box/trunk that we use to store

our household recyclables. Like you, I am sure you need
to find storage that works, and has both a purpose as well as looking pretty.