A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HANDMADE : New Lives for Old Cupboards

IF OLD MOTHER HUBBARD were to go to Bobbi Robins’ cupboards, she’d find them anything but bare. Her decorative custom-designed cabinets are painted with floral, folk-art and trompe l’oeil designs--or just about anything else her clients ask for. Although the idea of decorating such utilitarian items as furniture has a long history, Robins’ cabinets are often put to distinctively 20th-Century uses: housing for TVs, VCRs and CD players.

“The challenge is to take something from a secondhand-furniture shop and create a fabulous piece,” Robins says. To provide a textured background on a new or stripped piece of furniture, she uses ragging, sponging, marbleizing and “parchmenting.” She then paints on her design, using acrylic water-based paints.

The one-of-a-kind finished product may feature whimsical trompe l’oeil bookshelves, stylized floral designs, or hearts and flowers reminiscent of Pennsylvania Dutch patterns. She also paints kitchen cabinets, walls and other pieces. Prices range from $150 for a small piece to $3,000 for a large cabinet.

Bobbi Robins, by appointment only; (818) 989-0262.