Saturday, August 28, 2010

old...and sunroom storage projects

Funky Junk Donna's themed link party this week is "old" and I really want to participate.  I haven't been able to the last couple of weeks and this theme is right up my alley.  I have so much "old" around my house and in my garage and in my garden...everything we have is "old" and I can't possible link it all up.  So, I'm combining two things into one (I think they call that 'killing two birds with one stone' but since I love birds and can't kill anything, we won't call that).  

If you've followed this blog, you know I've been redoing my sunroom into a project room.  I've complete a few projects and now I need storage for the room to hold so much junk I use for all my projects; everything from craft supplies to my new electric nail/staple gun.  So, here are two OLD things that I'm going to freshen up and use for my storage.

Here they are:

First up are these drawers I gave you a peek at in a previous post.  There are two and they are slightly different.  This one below has smaller drawers (and wait until you see them close up!).

This one has square drawers and larger drawers on the bottom.

See the little holes in the corners?  They aren't actually holes but indentions so one set can sit nice and tight on top of the other.

On the corner of this one you can see a raised spot that would fit snugly in one of those indentions.

Here are the drawers close up.  They are all galvanized metal drawers.  If you like galvanized like I do, isn't that awesome?

Here's a close up of the label slots and handles.

We are definitely keeping these.  So, here's the plan for these drawers.  I'm going to wipe them down and seal. That's it.  I'm keeping them as is.  I like the dark wood in the otherwise neutral room.  I may keep some of the labels already on some of the drawers because my dad made them.  Others will be replaced with some simple labels.
These drawers came from my dad's manufacturing jewelry shop.  My uncle originally owned the company and my dad worked there. When my uncle retired, he gave the company to my dad.  These drawers were there from the beginning.  They held many of the jewelry supplies (they called them "findings").  When my dad retired, he brought these home.  My mom loved them but never really used them in her house.  They stayed in the garage and housed some of my dad's tools along with some of the old jewelry stuff.  Some of those drawers still have all of that old stuff in them.  I can't wait for these to be finished and ready to use.  They should be done this weekend.


Here's the other old thing we're going to use for storage. This was in my parents' garage for as long as I can remember.  I think it might have been my grandmother's before that.  We called it a cedar closet. Originally, it was just cedar with no finish.  Now, I like the function of cedar, but not the look.
The red crackle finish is fake.  When my parents gave us this to use in our son's nursery, we painted it mustard, applied crackle medium and then painted barn red.  Looks pretty good huh?  Not really.  There are a lot of oops places.

These are cute though.  We don't have the key unfortunately.

It has shelves in it and a rod for hanging things.  The shelves have been covered in ticking. I think I'll leave them that way.  You can see the cedar in it's original state inside.

Here is the first oops picture.  This was our first and last attempt at crackle.

See the glops of paint?  Yucky.  I'm not sure why the color is off in this picture; sorry.

Last oops pic.  See, it's not that cute.  So here's the plan for this little piece.  I'm going to sand down the oops places.  Then, I'm going to paint it the same blue-gray color as the project table.  Donna at Funky Junk mentioned in her post that skipping some of the big time prep like sanding down pieces before painting or staining can take way the effect we are usually trying to achieve which is having pieces look old.  I've mentioned before that I often don't prep things.  I just paint or stain over it so the piece retains it's character and age.  This cedar closet will look like an old cedar closet with a fresh coat of paint that has been painted over layers of old paint.  It should chip and wear nicely so some of that red may eventually peek through.  Perfect.
I'm off to get started on these things.  I should post some "afters" later in the week.

10 comments:

  1. I love those file boxes. Glad you are keeping the finish. They will look wonderful in there. The cedar cabinet will give you lots of storage. I look forward to seeing it with it's new paint job :)

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  2. Both are wonderful pieces, especially the one with so many drawers. What treasures. Can't wait to see them all done. Hugs, Marty

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  3. Loving it all! Those pieces are fabulous and that red is yummy!

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  4. Both of those pieces are amazing and I can't wait to see how you spruce them up!

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  5. the jewelry cabinets are to die for! oh my...my heart skipped a beat when i saw the opened drawer with galvanized metal. these are perfect for a project room and the fact that they belonged to your dad makes them even more special!

    judi ;)

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  6. Ohhhh that hurt! BAD! How fun will those pieces be to work on?!? Lucky you!

    Donna

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  7. I love those little drawers even more now that I know their story and history in your family.

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  8. I love the red cabinet and I'll be anxious to see what you do with it...I have a window from an old milkhouse that I bought for 10.00 years ago. It has a chippy barn red frame that I would love to do white but I'm just to scared to touch it for fear I'd ruin it, so I'll be sure to click on when you post about your room.
    I love the wood drawers that came from you dad's work what a gem they are!

    Rondell

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  9. You are the queen of vintage things. So I love the red cedar chest-- I can't tell on the "oops" things, but since I've done it myself with crackle medium I DO know what you're talking about. ;) 'Cant wait to see them finished.

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  10. I'm glad you aren't going to paint your little cabinets. They're so cool the way they are.

    I think the armoire is going to look amazing!

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