Laundry Room Part 3? Maybe not.
I have had this old cabinet for many years. My late sister Penney had it, and when she moved and couldn't take it she gave it to me as she knew I loved it too.
The problem is that it should be high up, it is the top of an old cupboard. I wanted to use it in my laundry room.
I knew it wouldn't work that way it was so I flipped it upside down, and took the trim off and put it back on what is now the top.
The finish, aside from being very dirty, is also in rough shape.
Usually I would strip and sand a piece like this before working on it, but since it's winter and I don't want to work outside, I decided to just scrape it a little and live with it the way it is.
There isn't a lot of room in my laundry room for a piece this wide, but I decided it would have to go under the window. Since I was home alone I managed to get it up in place and secured to the wall temporarily so I could see how it looked. Hmmm, I don't like it there. It's just too short, and feels crowded under the window. When Johnny got home he didn't like it either, he thought it interfered with the window. Hmmm, plan B?
Since I had it pulled out and it was on my mind, I decided to put the laundry room on hold and work on it anyway.
It was missing some trim and miracle of miracles I found some in the shed that I had saved from the stone house renovation that matched perfectly. That never happens!! I was so glad I had saved it and that it made the move.
Since this piece is now going to be upstairs instead of in the laundry room I decided I needed to remove that back that was in very bad shape. Funny story for those of you who know us, I was looking at the stenciled wood that's warped and peeled and of course I wanted to save it. Johnny came along and said he would take the backing and use it for kindling. I wanted to tell him to save that thin sheeting with the printing on it but I just wasn't up for the argument, so I let it go. I could hear him in the next room breaking it into little pieces, it was killing me. Then he yelled out, "Do you want to save this part with the writing?" Really? Wow! Second miracle in the same day! He separated it from the rest and it is safely tucked away. (Watch for it to pop up on a future project)
All cleaned up and ready to be fixed up.
Johnny put the little piece of backing in at the top, he doesn't usually help me with my projects, and it wasn't what I had planned, but it works.
Now for the base, time to go out to the wood pile and see what we've got.
Between the pile and the shed we found 2 old closet doors that would work. I got them cut down to size.
Time to put it all together. I would have liked to make the base deeper than the the upper cabinet, but because it is going by the door, there isn't room for it to be bigger.
I had some 1x4's that I had salvaged from a big frame I had made for a wedding backdrop that came in very handy for the face frame.
What do you do when your clamps aren't long enough? Using 2 together got the job done.
Looking pretty good! After this stage I found a chunk of shelving that was leftover from the master closet in the stone house, I just had to cut off about a foot.
The middle door of the upper cabinet was missing it's glass. Luckily I found one piece of antique glass in my stash of glass from old windows that was the exact width I needed and just a few inches too long. Good to know that I haven't lost my glass cutting skills, it's been so long since I've done stained glass.
I managed to get the bottom up the stairs by myself but I had to wait for Johnny to help me with the top, it is both heavy and awkward. But here it is put in place.
Look at these feet! I love them! They are from an old upholstered chair that was past it's prime, but I saved the feet.
This is the hardware I chose to use. They are new, but made to look like antique mercury glass.
I knew the inside needed painting, and I thought I would just paint the wall in behind the same colour, but Johnny couldn't live with that (because when we move I will want to take it with me and then the wall will have 2 patches of different coloured paint. Move? I'm not moving, maybe never ever. Does he not remember the hell we went through ALL summer) So I cut a piece of thin board to slide in behind where the wall was showing through.
I was unsure of what colour to paint the inside so I used gray primer to see if I liked it.
I didn't like it, I didn't think it was bold enough. Although it looks black in this picture it is dark charcoal. I love it.
See the wavy antique glass in the door, worked out perfect, it matches the other 2 doors.
(In case you are wondering, yes, these things are important!)
These are the inside of two of the doors on the base cabinet. Normally I would paint them, but I decided to leave them as is. I'm pretty sure I brought this thin piece of plywood home from Cheers when I worked there over 20 years ago. They are from an old crate that some giftware would have come in (so much more useful than a cardboard box). Every time I see them I will think of my late sister Leata who owned the store. Lesley Starratt do you still order from them?
My china has been packed away since our move, and I really expected that it would stay in boxes, but I'm happy to have it displayed again.
In case you haven't realized how big this piece is, I took this picture so you can see the size of it. We have 12' ceilings in this school house, so it is perfect, it's not too tall at all, Johnny!
By the way, if you are wondering what the hardest part of this project was, it was hanging those doors on the base cabinet! Making them was far easier than hanging them, crazy!
Thanks for reading!
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