When Work Comes Home....

 Hubs and I both work for the Post Office. It has its ups and downs, for sure.  And it has changed dramatically over the years. Back in May we took some time off together to go to the Brimfield Antique Fair, an enormous nationally known flea market, that has been the backdrop for several shows on HGTV. I went with a few things in mind. Quirky things.  I wasn't looking for a deal per say, but definitely for a few affordable items that I could craft into something else.

Hubs found some unique birdhouses made of old license plates and another chainsaw carved one made of cedar. I found an old glass 5-gallon water bottle, now turned "swear jar" that sits full of change in our living room. And this...

An old bank of PO boxes, that my husband, God love him, carried a quarter mile back to the truck for me. Shortly after we returned home, the shed project took over everything and alas, the boxes sat in the garage for months. I'm pretty sure the husband thought it was going to sit there forever. Until one day when I had a few moments of time, some spray paint, and sheet of maple plywood...

(Please ignore the dirty siding on the garage.  We just haven't precured the pressure washer from my Dad yet.) And then the box sat for some more time, until I figured out what exactly it wanted to be and could afford the maple to do it.

Hubs thought the top looked like butcher block cutting board. While I agreed, I wanted it to have that older rustic look, so I completely ignored him and moved on. It definitely needed a more chunky look..

See.  It needed to be chunky. It also helped that I had it on a creeper board that I could roll around when no one was home to help me pick it up. Then it was time for stain....

I have no idea what color I ended up with.  I was all over the place with it.  But it was coming together. The legs I bought for it are 6-inch brass legs. They overhang the sides for an art deco look.  Most important, they can hold 500 pounds.  Because when this sucker was done, it was HEAVY. Thankfully, they arrived from China a month earlier than expected.  Note:  I specifically bought them from Etsy, as I am anti-amazon, and yet, they shipped from China, not the US, and arrived via Amazon.  *sigh*

Anyhoo...

After the stain and poly was fume free, it made its way into the house, where I redid the numbers with my Cricut machine. I had keys to only two of the boxes, so two locks are still intact.  Rekeying them all is far too costly, so I am getting magnetic closures for the rest of the doors, mainly so the cat doesn't take up residence in one of the boxes, as they are the perfect hidey holes. I'll keep a bottle or two of wine in there, but as I'm not much of a drinker, the rest will house cords for the TV, and other miscellaneous stuff that kicks around the living room. 

It's one of my new favorite things.

Can't wait until next May when we return to Brimfield... imagine the possibilities.