New life ...

Can I just shout to the roof tops that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Card Catalogs! I have wanted one for sooooooo long, I have seen many on the boards of Pinterest and I have been on a search for one for several months. My search ended about a month ago when a man answered my Craigslist want ad. He said that he had one with 72 drawers if I was interested. OF COURSE I WAS .. but I was thinking - oh geez - 72 drawers .... how much is that gonna cost me? I had received several emails from others for smaller ones wanting $200+ so I replied - scared for his answer. When he emailed me back an awesome price I was over the moon happy! I agreed to come to Morganton, NC to get it. We spoke on the phone and one Tuesday morning, Frankie and I set off to get it. When we arrived the nice older man greeted us. He advised me that since I had that sweet, nice, southern accent - he knew I would come after it and he agreed to sell it to me, he said, "If you had been a Yankee I would have kept it!" Hahaha - ahhhh that southern drawl of mine pays off sometimes. Hehe! He had several other pieces in his basement that I tried hard to sweet talk him out of, but he is a lover of old things as I am and he was working on a project of his own. We loaded up this awesome, heavy beauty and headed for home. It nearly whipped me and Frankie to get it into the house. My front foyer is a PAIN in the rear when it comes to large objects coming in. We made it - and it sat here in my living room staring at me for a few weeks. Saturday night I decided to head over to Lowes and pick out my paint. I want to share with you the process of my project.

I found this color palette on Pinterest, I liked it all but the cream color, and the darker blue that, to me, does NOT belong.

So I decided on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th colors - then found another color at Lowes that I like better than #4 - here was what I had to start with.

This was the Card Catalog BEFORE I did anything to it, not too bad - but the fronts of the drawers were just too drab for my liking.

First I removed all of the brass hardware from the fronts of the drawers and we peeled the formica type laminate from them to reveal the bare glue stained wood. I then sanded them with an electric palm sander 1st with 120 grit paper then a second round with 220 grit paper. (I think) - the glue stained drawer in front and the pretty sanded drawers shown in the back.

Then I primed all 72 drawers with Kilz Latex Primer, just one coat and by the time I finished them all - the first set of 18 was ready for color! That was some quick drying primer!

All primed and ready for fun!

I was so excited for color - I had worked hard to get to the fun part - my first color was this awesome teal color.I purchased 4 quarts and I have sooooooo much left over - I could have probably got by on sample sizes - but I will use these again somewhere down the line.

I painted 18 drawers of each of the 4 colors.

These dried for about 30 min, I only applied one coat and it was just how I wanted it! Then it was time to add the hardware back on and replace my drawers into the catalog.

I randomly placed all of the drawers and voila - she was all finished and looking quite awesome! I am very proud of myself for getting this all finished in one day! I am in love with this piece. My next project should be a breeze, it is a vintage locker, in which I plan on painting all of the doors (there are only 6) - what can I say - I have an addiction to cubbies and things with drawers.

Finally the Before and After shot! Eeeeek - I love love love this!