I received a cabinet about six feet tall - about 40" wide, maybe 20" deep. It has two drawers on the top and two doors about four feet high. The doors have cathedral cut glass on the doors.

I have sanded it down good and filled in the holes, hand made and worm made and am ready to sand that down (if the rain stopped). Two sides of the cabinet are painted on the outside, the bottom and top are unpainted on both sides. I want to paint the top outside. This means the whole of the inside is not painted. My husband says not to paint it because it would keep the wood from breathing (you know what I mean). So if I wash, with soap, water and bleach the inside of the cabinet, let it air dry, paint the outside and antique it as I have planned to do, leave the shelving unpainted but cleaned the same as the inside of the cabinet and put shelf paper on it, if, here it comes, I put my fabric on the shelves and it touches the dried wood in the back and on the sides of the inside of the cabinet would it ruin the fabric. I keep a lot of my fabric in plastic shoe boxes, and I don't like to use plastic bags because of any moisture and I am thinking the bare wood would stain the fabric. I have never done this before and it is an old antique cabinet (even the glass has bubbles and I remember it when I was a kid and it was old then) and I don't want to do anything to ruin my fabric. But I would like to make a nice piece of furniture out of this. I am leaving dents and worn legs, etc. as is, but filling in holes. It is a lovely old piece, not top drawer, but perfect for fabric. It has three shelves, two drawers and the top of the cabinet. It will clean up a lot of spaces that I have boxes of stuff. I am painting it a teal blue and antiquing it in walnut. I would just like to know if I should hang shelf paper on the back of the cabinet and tack it into place or just let it be.

If anyone has any ideas, please to let me know. I hope I have explained what it is like. I have a tendency to know exactly what I am saying and when I type I manage a good case of diahrrea of the hands and sort of spew forth. Then I read back what I wrote and like Steve Urkel used to say "Did I say that?"

Thanks so much for your help! Edie

I put my clothing in drawers that are bare wood on the interior and I've never noticed that the bare wood ruined any of my clothing items.

If you are concerned about it, perhaps you could line the shelves with paper? Just a thought.

Have fun storing your fabric in your "new" piece of furniture. It sounds nice!

I am going to line the shelves, I was worried about the inside walls of the cabinet. That's all I need is to ruin my fabric - my stash - my wealth!!!!!! Edie

I have no experience with this, but I have read that you should not store fabric against unfinished wood because acids from the wood can discolor and weaken the fabric. One recommendation is to treat the wood with a polyurethane finish. I think it's typical for the inside of drawers to be treated.

I have vintage lawyers bookcases with glass doors. They are in their original condition (stained and some sort of protection I assume over the stain) and I have stored fabrics in them for years and have never had any problems whatsoever with staining or discoloration. Many members won't agree with this and it's fine we all have our own opinions. I will tell you I have many antique and vintage items that have held many fabrics for over 20+ years without any problems.

I agree with dunster. Applying a coat of clear polyurethane will coat the insideof the cabinet and protect your fabric.

I use scraps of batting as a shelf liner.

Oh, that's good! I have batting (leftover). I bet I could use that for backing on the walls also, eh?

Thank you for that information. Edie

The problem is that the acid in the wood can go right through the batting. That's why you need something on the wood to keep the acids inside.