Trying something new today! A guest blogger–who just happens to be my little sister…She really has outgrown the bratty stage and is a wonderful photographer and better sister. (She should have a photo blog, if you ask me, but you didn’t and neither did she!)
In this furniture makeover, she has worked miracles on an old music cabinet that had been my dad’s from his early years. (And he’s no spring chicken!) Many people would have kicked this to the curb, but Meredith saw its hidden potential. This piece is a testimonial to diving in and not being afraid to try! What’s the worst thing that could happen?…What’s the best?
Enjoy the photos and the play-by-play. Hope it inspires you to not give up on old things!
Thanks, Mere (yeah…nobody calls her bratty)! It’s awesome! Hug my nephew for me.
Guest Blogger here! Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Cozy’s youngest sister, Bratty. Yes. I’ll own it.
Okay – mostly, this blog will be in photos.
You’ve read my sister’s words about our parents and how last year we moved them out of their abode of 32 years, and into a much safer, less cluttered patio home/condo type dwelling. Sometimes, I look around my 115 year old house, and think maybe….maybe a condo is a good idea! But, for now, I’m happy to be the custodian of this house. I hope I can keep it standing and maybe even improve it. It’s a work in progress. I think maybe it always has been.
After the auction of all the things that remained after the big move for the parents, a few pieces remained. A few pieces that were too rough! No one even wanted to buy them for fire wood!
This piece of furniture tugged at my heart a little.
Pretty sad, huh?
Look. Ew. Mold.
This is it’s good side.
Not it’s good side. Surely someone set an iced tea glass here repeatedly. For many years.
Please turn to the left, ma’am.
Um… excuse me. Is that a moving company’s sticker? Really? That sticker was stuck in 1978. That’s some pretty serious stick.
One of my passions is music – playing it, listening to it, making it – I love all of it.
Our Momma and Daddy loved music back in their day, too. Mother was a church soloist with an incredible contralto voice and could whistle like a songbird. Daddy always used to sing bass in the church choir, although having sat next to him in church a time or two, I will more fondly remember his appreciation of music rather than his musicality! I remember some specific musical days in life, such as the day we got a Radio Shack Stereo that had an 8-track player. It was HI-TECH! We were big time. Then sometime later we got a REAL stereo, with a balanced turntable with a diamond head needle, a system equalizer and big 2’ x 3’ Pioneer box speakers, supplemented a few years later by a CD player. Wooooo……
Long before Cozy and I were twinkles in our padre’s eyes, he had a Victrola and a super sweet collection of 78’s (if you’re so young you don’t know what a 33-1/3 or a 45 or a 78 is, you’ll need to look that up on Wikipedia.) I wish I had room in my house and life for all the things that I associate with my parents and their house. But we had to let go of so much – so many things. This cabinet held all of Daddy’s 78 LPs; it was chock-full of them. Although the auction-goers were eager to have the 78s, they were not at all interested in this worn out cabinet they lived in. Water damaged. Dried out. Unloved in the last 40+ years. Probably more like 50+ years. Largely in storage in a damp, musty basement with boxes of old receipts and Christmas decorations stacked on top of it.
I couldn’t put it in the dumpster.
So, I dragged it home, and commenced to thinking about it, and it’s potential uses.
Here’s what happened next:
I went out and bought a Sunday paper. (See, color ads and stuff.) Yes. I had to go buy one. I don’t take a paper. It’s my little contribution to the Earth.
Next, I figured, “Hey, you can’t hurt this thing anymore than it’s already hurting!” What kills mold?
Clorox. Bleach. I know, that ain’t no way to treat a lady! But, my goodness. Did you see all that funk and dirt and mold and I will tell you – there were some empty spider egg sack thingys tucked in one of the corners. Bleach kills spiders, right?
Honestly, I was kind of surprised how much better it looked just with the cleaning and scrubbing with the Clorox spray!
I couldn’t just stop there. She needed exfoliation. Serious exfoliation. That’s where these friends came into play. VERY handy, prepared sanding sponge blocks by 3M in two different grits: Medium and Fine. Then, well…I sanded.
Lots.
The beautiful thing of these cool sanding sponges is that as their grain becomes filled with dust and dirt, you just dunk it in your nearby bucket of water, and magically the sponges are ready to go again! With the added bonus that the water keeps down on the massive dust cloud caused by my machine like speed and precision sanding. You need to sand EVERY surface. Roughing up the surface will help your finishing – whether paint or stain – adhere because paint or stain or what have you has a hard time sticking to other paint or stain or other old exterior finishes. Think shellac, wax, polish, tung oil, mold, spider egg sack thingys.
Be sure to sand and scrub every little nook and every little cranny.
Sand and sand and sand until you cannot bear to sand any more at all. No palm sander for this girl, just working on my forearms and biceps. That’s right.
See? You can see how dusty it is again? That’s all my hard work. After this step, you need to wipe down your piece of furniture again. I didn’t use the bleach product this time – - just paper towels and water.
Now the fun stuff begins.
I had the idea that this piece might work in my son’s room. He’s 17. Bedside table shelves now, cool living room piece in his first apartment someday? My son’s room is kind of sparse and clean-lined. More so than any other room in my house. So, I thought an Asian-American scheme might look just right, and would grow with him. Red and black it is.
But not ordinary red and black.
The highest gloss red paint I could find. Shiny. Look….a bunny!
Here’s the first coat.
Two coats? Right?
Okay. If you insist. Three.
It is so shiny now, it’s almost glowing!
But, it’s still looking not quite right to me. So, I went with five coats.
That’s right. F I V E coats of super-high-gloss-candy-apple-red oil-based-paint.
Have I mentioned that I thought I’d bust this project out in one evening?
That kind of thought process is genetic, by the way.
The exterior was much easier. Maybe because the future owner of said cabinet hounded me by saying “Um, Mom…when are you going to finish my beside table?” Needless to say, I was shamed! So I had him paint all the black surfaces. 2 coats of flat-black furniture paint, applied to all the primary surfaces. He did a great job! I faced the shelves so that the black wouldn’t leak onto the red.
Can I just say, this is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in this house now!
The back side looks awesome. I love a good backside. Except for those plastic chairs I painted red last summer. Apparently, I didn’t care enough to thoroughly paint the back side of them! Let’s keep looking at the cabinet!
There! In the background you can see the fellow who painted the outside of the cabinet. He has his dog on his lap. So sweet!
So there you have it. One saved memory, repurposed, renovated, restored in a new way. Total cost for this one day two week project: (**NOTE: Super-high-gloss-candy-apple-red oil-based-paint takes at LEAST a full day to dry between coats. Sometimes you need two days if you’re weather is humid and sticky.) About $15.00 for the paint and disposable brushes and pans, another $5 for the sanding sponges, and $1 for the Sunday newspaper. I threw in the paper towels and bleach spray since I had them already.
I’m really glad to have saved this quirky little record cabinet. I’ll always think of my Daddy when I look at it, and hopefully, my son will, too.
Thanks for reading ~
Bratty
Check out some amazing projects! Click on these links…but only if you have time to look around:
