Beautiful Painted Antique Apothecary Cabinet

The first trash to treasure post of 2025- and it is SUCH A GOOD ONE FOLKS. It is one of those kind of finds that you just don’t bump into all the time. Sharing a first look at this trash to treasure piece – I snapped some photos with my phone today and didn’t style anything or even start to clean it up yet-I wanted to share it as found in all it’s beauty first – but of course, stay tuned for how I style this delightful little new to me treasure- an antique apothecary cabinet.

Antique Apothecary Cabinet Base

Where to begin? This treasure definitely caught my eye the minute I spotted it. The old green paint. All the drawers with bin pulls. All the doors. The chunky top that was well worn to chippy perfection. Did I mention the size? It is 11′ long folks- a big ol’ beauty!

Trash or Treasure

I found this piece on marketplace and pretty much immediately messaged the seller about it. I had questions about all the things and one of them was when could I pick it up. haha. It was listed for $500 and the seller had it in his garage using it as a work table and they were moving and decided to sell it instead of hauling it. He knew that it came out of an old historic building that was once a hospital- he said it was in the maintenance department in the basement and was used as a work bench there. I wondered if that was where it was though because it looked so similar to the base of the big old 14.5′ long antique apothecary cabinet in our dining room-so I thought it *might* be a similar type cabinet and maybe was in the building elsewhere.

After we set up a time to come by and take a look at it, he pulled all his tools off of it and pulled it away from the wall and noticed there was some writing in pencil on the back of it. It said ‘south wall pharmacy’ and so it was just what I thought- the base of an old antique apothecary cabinet that was once built into the south wall of the pharmacy.

After we got there, he explained more of the history of it. It had been in the same building over the years but though it was a veterans hall, preschool and other places over the years- the building it was built into actually started out as a tuberculosis sanitarium back in the 1930’s in a little old California gold rush town. He knew all about the building because he grew up in the area and he said there were a lot of parties there when in high school after it had long been abandoned. His neighbor worked in the building and when they were demolishing part of it- the workers got to take home whatever pieces they wanted. His neighbor removed this piece. And so my question for the neighbor is- where is the top? Oh how I wish it had been available with this too. Even so, though, I absolutely love it just as it is also.

We found it to be much lighter than a shop bench would be – because they are usually outrageously heavy. And so all the planning for moving such a big heavy piece was not needed. We just lifted each end up and put some rollers under it and rolled it over to the truck. We propped it up and loaded it into an 8′ truck bed. It obviously stuck out a bit being 11′ long- but a flag on the end works fine. Getting it out of the truck was a bit harder- especially trying to roll it over to the barn on the rain soaked muddy path. We ended up having to tarp it and leave it about 1/4 of the way over where we got stuck and when our boys came for a visit- they hauled it over for us.

Chippy Painted Perfection

While this antique apothecary cabinet shows a lot of old wear and tear, some staining and a random spray paint spot- there is so much character in all that old paint.

I am not planning on repainting anything- I do plan to try to remove the spray paint on the door and of course, clean the top well to get rid of the old rust staining. You can see where the top of the cabinet was once attached along the back and also with a couple of square wood supports most like that were in the top. (where there is no green paint) It looks to originally maybe have been black paint, then white and then this most delicious mint green.

And yes- other than cleaning up- that mint green color paint and all the chippy goodness is staying just as it is.

Doors, Drawers and Delightful Character

The drawers have old bin pulls that are so sweet and inside some of them there are wood dividers. There are 4 small drawers and 4 double drawers.

The cupboards have wide board wood shelving and one has a little box that had a lock and key at some point- probably to hold some of the stronger medicines.

I also love how the doors have the little latches to keep them closed. One latch is broken and is taped- I am going to tinker with it to see if it can be fixed.

Ideas for styling

As I mentioned, this thing is a bit of a big boy in that it is 11′ long. And I love that. It is one of my favorite things about it. Ideas for styling something like this? Originally, I was thinking of it in the barn right where it is. You see, I have a whole long wall that has nothing there and I need storage for all the china, goblets, bits for styling etc that I have been collecting. So something like this is perfection for storing all the things. It would be a fantastic kitchen island once it is cleaned up- you could top it with marble for a crisp and clean surface. SO good. It would also be a delightful sideboard for styling- in the dining room, in the living room, in a large bedroom. So much potential.

I also thought of tucking it into the greenhouse on one side. We don’t have the shelving up on both sides of the greenhouse and this would make such a great huge potting type bench or place for holding all the pots and bits for gardening. There are so many more ideas- but for now, it is in the barn and it will be getting a styling up there (and maybe some wheels so I can move it on my own) so stay tuned for how it looks after it is cleaned up and styled.

What do you think of this big old beauty? Is it Trash or Treasure? Would you have brought it home with you?

For more Trash or Treasures- you might enjoy this post about a free roadside wicker find.