My garage is still a huge mess! I confess, I did go out there a week ago Saturday, with big plans to move stuff around and rearrange my tools. I stood there with my coffee in hand, turned this way and that, inched towards one wall of stuffed-to-the-gills shelving, and stopped dead in my tracks! I just couldn't get myself to start this project. Nope, not gonna happen today, I said. And, walked out and closed the door shut tightly behind me.
Here's what I did instead. Remember this? The mystery project? Logger daughter, bless her heart, asked me if it was a media cabinet!
Well, she was wrong. I have a small jewelry box that sits on my bathroom vanity between the dual sinks. It's tiny, something like this, which is only 10" wide by 16" high.
Months ago I decided to use up some scraps and see if I couldn't make something a tad bigger for that area. It sat and sat until that time when I couldn't start any new projects because of my chopped up finger. I figured I could look at what I had already put together and see if I could figure out a way to finish it. The parts were small enough that I could handle them, even with my injured finger. Well the result of my playing around with scraps is a monster jewelry box. It's so big that when Camper Daughter first saw it she told me flat out I couldn't even think of "putting that thing" on my bathroom counter!
The work on it stalled, until the weekend I was planning to rearrange the garage. (Nope, still hasn't happened - still looks like this).
That Saturday I headed out to Lowe's in search of tiny knobs for this monstrosity, and for a stain that might match the bottom trim piece that I'd used on this. That piece matches the bathroom cabinets and I thought if I could get close enough to that stain color my monster box wouldn't be so noticeable - Ha, I wasn't even drinking when I had that thought!
I didn't have any luck with small knobs, and instead ended up knobs the same size as those on my cabinets. I did, however, find a stain that was pretty darned close to my cabinet color.
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| Minwax Bombay Mahogany. It's really nice to work with, goes on easily and gives your finish a nice smooth look - very necessary for someone like me who just hates the finish part of any project! |
By this past Saturday I had a project that is as finished as it's going to get! Here it is, in all it's glory, my new monster jewelry box!
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| Sitting right where I envisioned it. And the water faucets still work even with the doors open! |
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| Everything opens! See that tilty thing? It doesn't work quite like I'd hoped, so that's something I'll need to experiment with again, just to see if I can get it right! But, for me, it works "enough" - it holds my hot rollers, and I just need to pull out the compartment and slide it back in when I'm done. |
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| I added some "compartments" for my earrings. A cabinet maker would be appalled - I just glued skinny pieces of luan together and shoved it inside the box! - Works for me! |
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| I have some extra storage at the base of the side pieces. I just lined this, and the drawers with cheap black felt. |
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| Each side has 10 pretty, thick, swirly gold nails pounded in to hold necklaces. |
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| I even have a drawer for my make up! |
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I have room on the inside of the side doors, too, if I want to add more of those pretty nails.
There's a special name for these nails, I can't remember what they were called. I wish I'd taken a close up of them, they're really snazzy! |
The color is a bit redder than my cabinets, but not as red as you'd think from these pictures. After all, the color does match the bottom trim really well and that is the color of my cabinets. So, all-in-all, I think it looks okay sitting right there in all it's hugeness. And, since it holds all my stuff, I think it was a good use of scraps. Of course, I did have to buy the knobs and the stain and hinges, but even with all that, Mr. Big Box cost less than the teensy little jewelry box that didn't hold everything, wouldn't close because it was stuffed, had a broken piece of glass when I bought it, and just looked messy on my counter.
I'm just ornery enough, and pleased enough, to say it's staying!
Well, I made a one for myself, and a couple extra - just because I think they're cute!
