Lockers..another great find!

LOVE MY LOCKERS!

On the same trip we found our Cotton Mill Cart  we found 2 sets of lockers. They wanted $10 each! I gladly paid that and couldn't wait to get them home and put them to use. When we got them home one of the lockers had a lock on it and we broke the lock...felt like we were treasure hunters..we couldn't wait to see what was inside. We opened it up and found..........RIVETS, a coffee can, a mug and some old packs of crackers..oh well. It was more like Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault than a treasure hunt..:)

Anyway after cleaning one set I painted them Satin Nickle to match the fixtures in the house. It turned out GREAT! It took several months and into the summer to finally tackle the second set, but I finally did! I did the same thing, cleaned and spray painted. 

We then attached them to some extra slats of hardwood (we didn't want to scratch the new floors) and then put some felt on the bottom. We attched them to each other and adjusted the doors. Some are one door tall and others are two doors tall for larger items. 

We use these for so many things!! Our boy's book bags, Scout supplies, Dog/Cat supplies, blankets, pillows, coolers and homework supplies. This weekend I hope to get my cutter out and make some numbers for them so we can make a list of what is in each one...right now we open 3-5 lockers to find what we are looking for and the noise is getting a bit aggravating. ;)

So for a total of less than $50 we have a really neat set of lockers form the historic cotton mill down the street.

BEFORE

After..Blu wanted in the picture too. ;)

Breakfast Room

One Use for an Old Window

 

I had my husband hang an old window on the wall. We had been using an UGLY white board to put our weekly calendar on it so the entire family would know what was planned for the week-not just Mommy!

I looked for a CHEAP or free old window for a while. I really wanted an 8 pane window, but no luck. People are proud of those! So I settled for a 6 pane and just combine Sat/Sun.  I covered a clipboard in scrapbook paper and that is where we will put each child's newsletters or notes from school etc. I haven't finished them yet, still have to put their initial on there and do the other clipboard. I am experiementing as to which color dry erase marker to use..I think BLACK will be best, but of course I don't have one yet! ;)

The shelf I found out Home Goods and it was damaged so I got a good deal on it and brought it home to Sweetie and he fixed it right up for me. I found some cute fall decorations while I was out too. Entire wall including the "pretties" less than $75. :) 

Next step....use vinyl cutter to cut out letters for each day of the week....maybe this week sometime...we'll see.

 

The Curtains

 I found the curtains on Etsy. I debated making them myself, but I don't think I would have had time to do this...So I spent a little more money to have someone else do it for me and it arrived within 3 days!

 As soon as I saw they arrived, I called my husband, who was on his way home from work and told him to run to Home Depot to get the piping for the rods. In the great room I used the same pipping to put up my wall of curtains (see post HERE) He was a little put out that I asked him to put the curtains up that night...He had no idea that HONEY-DO Lists applied to weeknights too.
Next thing I need to do...find the right table!

THE SPOOL CLOCK

Another wonderful idea from Pinterest! The orignial inspiration was from Tiffany Ruda's Blog (Tiffanyruda.com) a link to her tutorial is HERE. 

I found my spool on the side of the road! My husband rolled his eyes when I asked him to "TURN AROUND!!!" Luckily we were in the truck and it wasn't a GIANT spool, it was a smaller one. I had been coveting Tiffany's clock for months and was always on the lookout for a wooden spool. I even asked for one for Christmas last year-but for some reason no one got it for me..Go Figure!

Anyway, to spool sat on the patio for a couple of months.  A couple of weeks ago I sweet talked my hubby into taking it apart for me. Last week I finally decided to tackle it! I pulled out my pressure washer and washed it down..let it dry for a day. 

After pressure washing-before the stain

For staining, I did a test on the back to determine how much/heavy I wanted to stain it. I wanted a darker color, but not too dark :) 

This is the back..you can see my stain testing on the top and right.

I went on a hunt for just the right numbers...I really wanted THESE, but they were too big and I don't have the patience to wait for an online order ;) So I got THESE.

I had my husband (an engineer) map out where the numbers should go. For  mathematically challenged people like me it's like cutting a pie into equal pieces.

The numbers had sticky tape on the back and that worked great on some of the numbers, but since the wood was uneven in places we used hot glue to fill and attach some of them...I made the mistake of letting my husband do that and he had glue everywhere! I had to go back and use the EXACT O blade to clean it up a bit..I didn't want it to look like a messy craft project.

I found the clock parts at Hobby Lobby. Michael's has them too. Bad thing is I forgot to take my coupon!! Oh well, again I'm impatient and just went ahead...the kit was $19.99 and came with the hands and the movement piece. Make sure you get the right size! With mine, I painted and distressed the hands satin nickle to match the numbers and other things in my home. I had my husband :) follow the directions on Tiffany Ruda's site to put the hands and movement onto the spool. Worked like a charm! Thanks Tiffany!

It's FINALLY DONE!...

We hung the clock using THIS. Love the French Cleat hangers for heavy items! It will make changing the battery easy too.

Now time to put the other things on the wall with it! It' won't be lonely for too long!

If you like this project, you may like these:

Old Cotton Mill CART

Old Door Headboard

THE Cart

Well, I have mentioned and posted pictures of my cart I found at Lincoln Mill several months ago. I wanted to share the process with you.

The cart when we first got it!

My husband and I found this old cart from an old cotton mill's warehouse sale last summer. It was apparently used to carry the bundles around in. It has a distinct groove in the boards and I wish I knew what it's specific purpose was..If anyone can tell me, please do! I've been searching the web for pictures, but no luck yet. The owner of the building told us that he thought it had to be as old as the building which was at least 100 years old...we knew it wasn't all original,but the bones sure were old!

It has rusty, gooey wheels and old hardware on it. The 2x4's look fairly new, but we kept them there. I pressure washed the entire thing and actually it was so grimy and old that not much came off.

My husband and I debated all the ways to turn it into a coffee table, Take the 2x4s off, lay a piece of  glass across then we realized we had some great wood to use as a top....

Earlier that summer we had the opportunity to take some boards off an old house in TN. I cleaned, fumigated, and sealed the wood and my husband roughly put them on a 1x2 and placed on top of the cart. Now it had a table top!

He also removed the handle because it was long and just wouldn't work for a coffee table (It was NEW too.) We had to find a way to stabilize it, my first idea was to use old yarn spools as legs since it was from the cotton mill. My husband couldn't see how that would work and sent me on a treasure hunt..I found an old plant hanger and he tried to use that..then I showed him what I was thinking with the spools. DING DING!! It worked (but I refrained from saying I told him so). We had to place some wedges to level it out, but it worked perfectly. We then placed some felt pieces on the wheels so it wouldn't harm the hardwood and voila! Our primitive cart coffee table. Total cost for us Less than $75!!

Finished Primitive Cart Coffee Table

***Whenever you salvage wood from a location please be sure to fumigate it! You don't want bugs to emerge once you get it in the house! I will post my process soon!****