Black Marker Over Fresh Yellow Paint Sounds Wrong Until This Cabinet Is Finished
Scratches, missing panels, faded decoration, and exposed wood covered this vintage cabinet when it reached the workshop. Two arched openings dominated the upper half, while drawers and cupboard doors filled the base beneath a broad serving surface.
The husband-and-wife team behind Les Browns & Co rebuilt the piece around a Pop Art-inspired palette. A bespoke yellow mixed from Annie Sloan Chalk Paint covered the worn brown finish, but paint became the background rather than the last step.
Once the yellow was in place, the husband reached for a black Posca marker. Instead of adding another painted motif, he followed the cabinet’s existing lines by hand, tracing panels, moldings, arches, legs, and carved details in black.
Yellow paint gave the worn cabinet one base color
Yellow covers the cabinet fronts, frame, work surface, and molding, replacing the patchy brown finish seen before. Dark knobs create small points of contrast across the lower drawers and doors.
The new color also makes the cabinet’s original geometry easier to read. Drawer fronts, recessed panels, and molding now share one background before the black linework goes on.
A black marker traces the edges paint had covered
A Posca marker follows the molding above one turned leg, adding a narrow black line along the yellow surface. The same treatment continues around panel edges and other raised details.
The line sits on top of the paint rather than hiding the cabinet profile. Curves, grooves, and changes in depth become guides for the hand-drawn border.
Purple inside the upper cabinet breaks from the yellow exterior
The upper cabinet interiors take on a deep purple finish while the surrounding frame stays yellow. The contrast becomes visible through the two tall arched openings.
Black lines run along the lower molding and vertical dividers as work continues. Purple gives the display area its own backdrop before glass shelves, doors, and lighting enter the piece.
The arched openings become outlined frames
Black lines follow each arch and continue into rectangular borders above them. Rather than drawing a new shape over the doors, the marker repeats the shape already built into the cabinet.
The same treatment reaches the carved crest at the top. Dark lines settle into its scrolls and grooves, separating details that would blend together under yellow paint alone.
A carved crown changes the top of the cabinet
The finished cabinet gains an ornate crest above the original flat top. Scrolls rise from both sides toward a taller central carving, giving the upper section a new silhouette.
Black detailing follows the carving across the yellow surface. The added crown connects with the outlined arches below rather than reading as a separate piece of trim.
Glass shelves turn the open upper section into a bar
Glass shelves now span the upper cabinet behind the arched doors. Bottles occupy the bottom, drinking glasses fill the middle, and colored glass pieces sit above.
Black knobs replace the missing door hardware. Yellow frames the display while the purple interior remains visible behind the glassware.
Light under the upper cabinet changes the serving area
A light strip sits beneath the upper cabinet and washes the recessed serving area with warm light. Its glow brings out a pink-purple panel at the back while leaving the yellow counter clear.
The lower cabinet keeps the same treatment used elsewhere: yellow panels, black knobs, and thin hand-drawn borders that follow the original joinery.
Paint and marker kept the old cabinet recognizable
The before-and-after view shows how much of the original structure remains. Arched upper openings, lower doors, center drawers, serving surface, curved supports, and turned legs all survive the transformation.
What changes is how those details register. Yellow replaces the damaged brown finish, while black marker lines use the old cabinet’s own edges, curves, and carvings as the drawing.
Would you have stopped at the yellow paint, or added the black lines too?
Image credits to @lesbrowns.