Congrats on your find! Can you please show us a photo of the room where it will go and the other furniture in the room?

Personally, I've always loved oak, and especially the cross cut or "tiger sawn" look on the doors, so I probably wouldn't paint it at all -- though I might stain it to a different tone. Wood is rich. But if you have a basically white or cottage decor I can see painting it.

Did you have to pay to have it shipped to you? Or was it a local pickup? I've always been a bit scared to get furniture from eBay.

Thanks for replying. I don't have a pic of the room because we are stripping wallpaper in that room and it's empty right now--but it will be the dining room. Walls will be painted dorset cream by farrow and ball--a pale creamy yellowish color. The dining room table and chairs are a french country style and the wood is stained darker than the china cabinet. The room has wood molding and wood floors similar in color ro the cabinet and I felt like it might be too much of that color in the room. The finish I was leaning toward was a french country look like Habersham furniture. Of course I'm a complete amateur when it comes to painting furniture so I don't know how close I could get to the Habersham finish. Here's a link to the finish.

http://www.habershamdesigns.com/design/dining.html

I did have to pay to have it shipped, but it was still a really good deal. It's only the second piece I've ordered from Ebay--I'm usually pretty leery too :)

I really love this finish too.

There is so much wonderful detail on your cabinet. If you really want to paint it I would go for one color inside and out with a wash. Looking at the link you posted, they show a complete set which has the dining table chairs matching a cream/washed cabinet. The table top is in wood. I liked that look.

Another part of me loves the wood as Oceanna mentioned. I do love the painted French Country, but it would take me a long time to consider painting your find. You could use liquid sand paper on the piece and then stain to get a match to your table.

Well, I do love painted finishes and think that your cabinet would be stunning painted---but, in the photos the oak is just so beautiful that even I would have a hard time covering that up! I would suggest that you wait and get the piece--for one the wood may not look nearly as beautiful in real life as it does in the seller's photos. That would make the painting decision easier. I loved many of the painted finishes on the Habersham site (thanks for sharing that link--I actually have a Habersham white finished table I bought on ebay so enjoyed looking at their other lines). I think an antique white with a glaze would look nice. Either stain the interior to match your table and chairs, or do a different deeper color painted finish inside.

If you decide to keep the oak, I'd stain it a bit darker (many here have had great luck with gel stains to darken finishes) and then I'd line the interior with fabric (toile would look great). That would break up the wood in the room.

It's a beautiful piece, can't wait to see what you do with it!

What a gorgeous piece of furniture! Can I have it when you're done with it :)
If you have never painted a piece of furniture, you are going to need to practice on something else first. I always think that painting furniture black is the easiest way to get a good result, but you are looking at darker colors.
It's very easy to paint the inside of the cabinet. Why don't you start with that, and then make the decision about painting the outside? I think it would look lovely with the inside painted a nice sage green.

If your table and chairs are darker wood tones -- then I would paint the cabinet in distressed satin black.

Then add lots of pewter items to the shelves and a big pewter bowl to the table ....

What a nice and unique find! I'd hold on the painting, too, and see what you think as your room comes together. It does look very French that way! and some of the closeups of the wood look quite beautiful.

Beautiful and what a great find! I would hold off on painting it for a while. Wait until the room is all together, at least.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback and the compliments on the cabinet. I've been lurking on this board for awhile and there's always great advice and ideas here.

Yes, I guess it does make sense to wait and see the piece in the room once the room has been painted etc...I'll post some follow up pics when the cabinet arrives--that's the only negative--delivery is anywhere from 30-60 days, but at least that gives me more than enough time to finish scraping wallpaper and then paint :)

Teeda,

I really like your idea of lining the inside with toile. How do you attach the fabric? Staples?

Does anyone of any thoughts on replacing the glass with chicken wire? The downside would be keeping the inside dusted, but I like the look.

Meta, I haven't actually done this myself yet, but am planning to line an antique armoire with fabric. I've read of a few different techniques: stapling (though this will leave holes--actually my armoire must have had fabric lining at one point because there are staple holes inside). Other options are to use velcro or shir the fabric on suspension rods (I've seen shirred fabric inside cabinets and it is very elegant). I think you can also "upholster" foam board and then pop it in. Do you know if the shelves are removable/adjustable? That might make one technique more appropriate than another. Perhaps some of the other talented people on this board might have different ideas?

Teeda, I'd love to see a pic when you're done lining your armoire. Thanks for the ideas :)
I don't know yet if my shelves are removable. I'll post pics of the project/progress.

I have chicken wire in my pine kitchen hutch doors and things don't get nearly as dusty as you think they would.

I also have a cabinet painted black (it has a little chicken wire too). The faux finisher told me it was done wrong - came off the boat painted black and he was to distress it for me. He said it should have been stained dark first, then painted over, then distressed. He distressed and the areas looked sort of gray-ish or too light...so I went over the areas with a dark stain and it looks great. Maybe hard to tell all this in the photos but I thought I'd share what I've learned. ;)

Also, he used an oil based glaze on all my cabinetry. In the past, any glazing I had done was with water based glaze. I always used rags to wipe on, then clean rags to wipe off. He used brushes to brush on and cheesecloth rags to wipe off.

Do practice technique on boards first to get the hang of things.

In our last home, I had a china cabinet with a mirrored back. When I got tired of the mirrors, I cut poster board and taped the pieces together to make one large one the size I needed then covered it with fabric - just taping the folded fabric edge on the back. I used double sided tape to hold the fabric covered poster board on the mirror, then replaced the glass shelves. Foam core or anything thicker than poster board could not be used due to the small space between mirror and back of shelf. Sorry, no pictures.

My cabinets can be seen at the below link. Scroll to the middle of page "French Gray Island Kitchen" You can click on the photos to enlarge/see more details.

Good luck with your project!

Here is a link that might be useful: My cabinetry

To put toile or any other color inside, you could use fabric with wallpaper paste. That wouldn't ruin your piece so if you change your mind later you just dampen it a little, peel the fabric off, then clean and dry your cabinet.

I like the idea of toile, but the scrolls on the front of the cabinet might get lost or obscured.

squirrelheaven,
That's a good point--I'll have to play around with fabric boards to see what it all looks like with those scrolls.

oceanna,
Thanks for the idea--I hadn't thought of using wallpaper paste, but that's a great idea too. I can't wait to get started :)

Allison,
Those pics are gorgeous! I love all the colors you chose and the whole style of the room. The Farrow's cream looks great on the fridge--that's one of the colors I was thinking about for the cabinet with a glaze over it. Do you know what the name/color of the glaze was that went on the fridge?

That is a beautiful piece of cabinetry. It is quarter-sawn oak, which is very different from flat sawn oak. Flat sawn oak is busy and has characteristic cathedrals in the wood.
You have a mix of both quarter-sawn (the part with the rays and flecks) and rift (the part that is perfectly smooth without any cathedrals) This piece makes a very strong and proud statement and doesn't need chicken wire, as it would compromise the curved wood on the doors. If you wanted to jazz it up a bit, you could replace the glass in the doors with German or French antique glass.

I would not paint it or use gel-stain... strip it with furniture stripper and stain it with an oil based stain, like Minwax to match the other furniture in the room.... The deeper rich stain will enhance the beauty of the wood. It's a unique piece.
Do a google search and read about quarter-sawn oak.

If you decide to strip and stain it, and need some support or advise you can email me...I'll be happy to walk you through all the steps to get a professional finish on the piece.

It's more work than just going over it with a gel stain or painting it, however it will be well worth it to preserve that gorgeous wood. The deeper tone stain on the piece will look much richer and better than it did when it was brand new.
Joann

I did a quick search here is a tit-bit for ya.

The Quartersawing Method

The Quartersawing Method places these rays on the face of the board, revealing the distinctive stripe or 'ray fleck' running across the grain that is the signature of quartersawn oak. According to Gustav Stickley "The quartersawing method of cutting...renders quartersawn oak structurally stronger, also finer in grain, and, as shown before, less liable to warp and check than when sawn in any other way." Quartersawing fell out of favor in the first half of this century because it yields less lumber per tree and takes more labor than plainsawing. Because almost all oak furniture today is plainsawn, we associate the quartersawn figure with prized period pieces. Therefore, this unique figure is an important ingredient in accurately recreating the look of turn-of-the-century furniture.
Plainsawn Lumber

Plainsawn Lumber is used in most oak furniture today. Here boards are sawn from around the perimeter of the log so the growth rings are essentially parallel with the surface. The Âray fleck appears only on the edges of the boards, if at all. Plain sawing produces many wide, clear boards with a pronounced 'cathedral' figure mixed with straighter grain. Plainsawn oak has a coarser, more textural look that draws attention away from the lines of the piece toward the surface itself. This textural quality tends to give furniture a more rustic or Âcountry look, whereas the quartersawn figure is more refined and shows off the rectilinear lines of Prairie and Arts & Crafts furniture more clearly.

Antique glass! The German was one of my favorites as I recall :)

Maybe have the piece appraised, also, before messing with it, just to know beforehand -- you never know where the economy is going! and might not want to spoil a nice little investment piece should it have more value than you paid.

I have no idea about those things, but I'd think the eBay machine would naturally sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Though I'd still check it out.

Thank you! The glazes were all custom mixed at his shop. All I know is they are oil based and the one on the fridge is a brown base glaze. The island is a black based glaze. I have the cans but there is nothing written on them. Sorry!