Chinese EXPEDIT Cabinet

After the move we have to find an idea for the old Expedit.
We wanted something colorful and with Chinese style, so that became the idea: to transform the Expedit into a Chinese Cabinet!

Before: Black EXPEDIT (79 x 149 cm) used to store glasses and mugs.

old Expedit

First I changed the proportions.

  • Add 4 wooden legs (10 cm high x 6 cm large)
  • To add stability, the legs are glued to a base which is 6x79x1cm, with glue (2 bases, with 2 legs each)
  • Then the bases are fixed to another base which is the same size of the EXPEDIT bottom (39 x 79 x 1 cm).
  • Legs bases are glued and fixed with 2 screws for each leg (4 cm screw at least), and two screws for the centre. (1,5 cm)
  • The entire base is then screwed to the EXPEDIT which is now higher by 12 cm.

Adding legs to Expedit

Adding legs to Expedit

Now I needed to fix the door frame.

  • 2 wooden strips nailed for the side (3 x 145 x 0.5 cm)
  • 2 for top and bottom (3 x 79 x 0,5 cm)
  • 2 for bottom side I added 2 strips (3 x 40 x 0,5 cm).

Adding door frame Adding door frame

Now I have to paint

  • First the base coat (2 coats), then
  • A bright turquoise (2 coats for the inside, 3 for the outside!)

I painted the bottom and the doors, which are in wood, so it’s painted without base (this will change the appearance and give a more vintage look).

Base coat Base coat

Base coat

First top coat

Expedit in Turquoise Sand between coats

  • Doors (36 x 144,5 x 0,8 cm) 3 coats.
  • Bottom (79 x 160 x 0,4 cm) 2 coats.

Between each coat (base and colour), to smooth the surface I used sand paper.

To fix the doors, I chose brass hinges and a real Chinese cabinet door latch (found on Etsy for 10£).

Hinges

Old Chinese cabinet latch

This is the final result!

IKEA Expedit turned into Chinese EXPEDIT Cabinet

Hope you like it

Note: The measurements are for the EXPEDIT, if you use a KALLAX you need to change it a little.

~ Eloise