DIY Faux Apothecary Media Cabinet

Build this apothecary media cabinet based on free plans. A simple modification and painting technique gives this media console its unique character!

A few days ago, my friend asked me when I was going to share my DIY apothecary media cabinet on the blog. I said – “but I made this so long ago, I don’t even have the step by step pictures.” That got me thinking too… I HAVE to share this with you! Its a project really close to my heart! I mean all my projects are, but this one is especially close… more on that in a bit.

So, here is my DIY (Faux) Apothecary Media Cabinet. I modified the original and free plans for the Benchmark Media Console from the amazing Ana White. And yes… I guess I kinda have a thing for Red 😉

Let’s talk a bit about the history of this beauty and why it is so important to me. This was my first major woodworking project. I had only built one little kids table before this and done a really simple green makeover of my little shelf. But that is NOT the only reason – the week I bought all the lumber for the project, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. I started building the console but the combination of morning all day sickness, a full-time job and a 3-year-old toddler made it a reeeeeally long project. I am so glad I didn’t give up on it and finally completed it when I was 7 month’s pregnant… whew! So this media console is kinda like my middle child 🙂

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Materials needed for DIY Apothecary Media Console –

• Lumber per the list provided by Ana White in her plans for the frame
• ¾″ plywood for the doors
• ¼″ thick Balsa wood – 5.5″ wide.
• Miter Saw
• Kreg Jig and 1 ¼ pocket hole screws
• Brad nailer and 1 ¼″ finish nails. I didn’t have a brad nailer so I just used a hammer 🙂
• Knobs – Mine are from Hobby Lobby
• 4 Euro style hinges

How to build your own Apothecary cabinet –

• First – build the frame exactly per the plans all the way to step 10 (in the plans).
• For the doors,  cut ¾″ plywood to size and the balsa wood to the sizes needed to create the Faux Apothecary drawers. Use wood glue and ⅝″ finish nails to attach them.
• Mark the centers and positions for the knobs and attached them.
• Attach the doors to the body using the hinges.
• Make one hole each on the top back side for the wires. I used a 2″ hole saw for this.
• That’s it!

Paint/ Finish of the Apothecary Media Console –

• For the Body, it was painted using home made chalk style paint from my favorite recipe that I have used many times since. The color is Burnt earth by Bher. For the Glaze – I mixed black craft paint with tintable glaze and wiped it on. To seal everything – I wiped on Furniture wax and buffed it. Imagine a VERY pregnant lady laying on the floor wiping on the wax… well I digress… and sorry for leaving you with that picture but I couldn’t resist 😉
• For the top – It was stained in Kona and finished with 3 layers of gloss Poly.

It is not perfect – the doors are a little misaligned but I learned so much from the whole process! I still love it as much as I did the first day it was born done 🙂  What do you think about my Faux Apothecary Media Console?

Oh and those knobs…. I am crushing on those even today!

A few more DIY Apothecary cabinets you might enjoy –

• Ikea Cubbies into a rustic Apothecary
• Build an apothecary Cabinet – Ana White