This upcycled DIY curio cabinet is a high-end dupe, but cost just $112

One of my favorite things to do is to dupe an expensive piece I’ve seen from a high end retailer. I had been eyeing pricey metal curio cabinets for months when I had a great idea! Why not turn it into a DIY project and build one using an old glass and wood cabinet by adding legs to it? 

I scoured Facebook Marketplace for a solid month  trying to find something that had glass fronts and sides but with a wood frame. The color didn’t matter because I knew that I’d be painting it. I finally stumbled upon a glass hutch piece that I knew would be perfect! 

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I flipped the cabinet over to start figuring out how I could attach legs to it. I knew I would need to create something for the “frame” of the legs to sit on so I had a piece of ¾” plywood cut to fit the bottom of the cabinet. I ironed on plywood edge banding to the exposed plywood edges. Then I started creating a frame for the legs. I cut each piece and laid it out before gluing and nailing  together. I cut each leg to measure 20” in height and ran a cross piece to each leg, securing with pocket screws from underneath so there were no visible holes on the legs. 

With the frame done I started the work of sanding the whole thing down, filling holes from the old hardware, and taping. So much taping!! The prep work far exceeds the actual time it takes to paint every time! 

The shelf in the original hutch was glass and I knew that I wanted to replace it with a wood shelf so I cut a piece of plywood the exact dimensions of the old  shelf and ironed on the plywood banding to the edges on this piece as well.  love the look of a white backdrop inside a black cabinet so I also cut a piece of  backer board to fit the back of the cabinet. I primed and painted that white  and drew vertical lines on it to mimic the look of vertical shiplap. 

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After all that prep work I was finally ready to paint the cabinet and shelf. I sprayed on a coat of Kilz latex primer and let that dry overnight. I gave it a good sanding in the morning and sprayed the cabinet black using Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. I love this color. It looked perfect!

I let it cure for a couple of days before bringing it inside. I installed the shelf and used wood glue on the backer board and adhered that to the back of the cabinet. Lastly, I screwed in felted furniture feet so it wouldn’t scratch our flooring and finished it off with a beautiful and simple brass knob from Home Depot! 

All my weeks of hard work paid off after seeing it in my home styled to perfection! In my opinion, it’s a very convincing dupe of a much more expensive piece of furniture and I’m so happy I made it myself for a fraction of the cost! 

Follow me @brookewaitehome on IG for more inspiring projects just like this!