Buffet Makeover Ideas and DIY Cabinet Curtains

How to update your buffet with paint and add simple no sew cabinet curtains

Raise your hand if you fell victim to the Fixer Upper farmhouse decorating era.

It got me too so no reason to feel ashamed! It’s actually funny because we now live in an actual farmhouse and I still want nothing to do with chippy white furniture.

Don’t get me wrong I still love some well placed vertical shiplap and chunky wooden table legs.

But my overall style has evolved into something less trendy and more my own. Our home now reflects a design style that I have cultivated over the years that is a mix of classic elegance and vintage charm, with a pull towards traditional style.

So slowly but surely I am going through our home and updating everything to reflect our true design style.

This buffet is in great condition but it feels a little too rustic farmhouse for my style.

So I grabbed some paint, stain, and cafe curtains to update this buffet.

DIY Buffet Makeover

Supplies for Buffet Makeover:

Black Paint (satin finish)
Provincial Stain
Cafe Curtain Rods
Cafe Curtains
Brass Hardware
Heat and Bond
40, 80, 120, 220 Grit Sandpaper
Bondo Wood Filler

Prepping the Buffet

Like I said our buffet is still in great condition, just not quite our style anymore. Since we are also currently tackling this dining room makeover this seemed like the perfect time to makeover the buffet too.

I started by removing the doors (I have big plans for those) and sanding the base of the buffet with 120 then 220 grit sandpaper.

The goal here is not to sand it down to raw wood, just to remove the areas where the paint was badly chipping.

For the buffet top, I used 220 grit sandpaper to remove the finish so that I would be able to apply stain later.

I wiped the base down with a tack cloth to remove the dust and debris.

Prepping the Cabinet Doors

This is going to get controversial so please just bear with me…

The wooden design in the middle of the cabinet doors was feeling really busy and kind of chaotic. I really wanted simple cabinet doors.

I carefully removed the glass from the cabinet doors and also the wooden door knobs.

Then I took a jigsaw and cut out the wooden centers of each door. They were very easy to remove, I was pleasantly surprised.

There were however some humps in the wood where the wood center used to be, so I sanded those areas flat with 40 grit sandpaper.

The 40 grit sandpaper worked so well to smooth those spots, but there were still holes where the wood design was secured into the frame.

To fill those holes I mixed together a two part Bondo wood filler. This was my first time using this type of wood filler but I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to mold and form over the holes.

Tip: One thing I learned is to only mix a small amount of filler together at a time, the harder works really quickly.

After the wood filler dried I used 80 grit sandpaper to shape the filler then 220 grit to smooth it out.

I was very impressed with how smooth the doors looked, you would never know they used to have any design in the center.

Painting/Staining the Buffet and Cabinet Doors

Now that both the cabinet doors and buffet are prepped it’s time for paint and stain!

I decided on satin black paint for the doors and base. If you are going to brush on paint I highly recommend mixing in a little Floetrol with the paint. It helps to make the paint look smooth without brush marks.

I painted the buffet base and cabinet doors with two coats of paint.

For the buffet I wanted to keep the stained top but I wanted a warmer looking stain. So I went with a Provincial Gel Stain. This stain color is perfectly warm and rich.

I applied two coats and sealed it with a satin polyurethane finish.

Finally I added the glass back to the doors and reattached them to the buffet.

DIY No Sew Cabinet Curtains

One of my only complaints with this buffet is that you could always see what I was storing inside it. Which would be fine if I was super organized but I use this buffet to store random items that look cluttered.

Basically I want everything I store in there to remain unseen but still be easily accessible, so I opted for cabinet curtains.

Cabinet curtains are a great way to add texture and pattern to any buffet cabinet. Plus they keep everything you are storing inside unseen.

I installed these cheap cafe rods to the inside of each cabinet door.

These are the cafe curtains I ordered for the cabinet doors. I love the simple, classic striped pattern and color.

They are a bit long for the cabinet doors but I cannot sew my way out of a paper bag so I used my favorite no sew hack.

I pinned the curtains to the correct hanging height, then used Heat and Bond to hem them in place.

The Heat and Bond strip is applied to the curtain with an iron, then I removed the top paper layer and placed the curtain edge over it.

I applied more heat to bond the curtain to the Heat and Bond strip. This is the easiest method for adjusting a curtain’s height.

Adding Curtains to the Doors

Once the curtains were the correct length, I placed them on the cafe rods.

They looked a little frumpy so I used a flat iron to smooth out some pleats in the curtains.

I didn’t need them to look perfectly pleated, just a bit more put together.

I absolutely love how the curtains look on the cabinet doors.

They add a fun pop of color to the buffet and now everything I store inside will be hidden from view.

Installing New Hardware

How to update your buffet with paint and add simple no sew cabinet curtains

For this buffet makeover I also opted to swap the wood knobs for brass ones.

I found these vintage inspired knobs on Amazon and they are so pretty and budget friendly!

These knobs also came with beautiful backplates that added a little extra elegance to the cabinet doors.