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Friday, August 10, 2012

Apothecary Style Medicine Cabinet Door {Salvaged}



If you follow me on Facebook, you saw a sneak peak of a project I started last week. I had thought  to have a reveal by last weekend but that didn't happen (I attended the World's Largest Yard Sale instead). So this week, I was going to have a full reveal but my drill died. :( I can't function without my drill. So while I'm waiting on my new drill to arrive, I thought I would do a partial reveal. The full reveal will wait until the bathroom reveal but this will give you a better idea of what I did with that 'Apothecary' glass.

Backing up a bit....

I took this,

which I found on Craigslist for free, and made it into a bathroom vanity.

Vanity Sneak Peek
Due to a lot of rotten wood around the bottom, I decided not to use the ends.

(That faux grain-painting hides some gorgeous old wood!)
BUT, I kept the wood that I removed (never know when you might need some old wood).

That wood came in handy when I got the brainstorm to make an apothecary styled medicine cabinet door. The recessed panels you see in the picture above slipped right out leaving a framework that had a groove in it. That groove was perfect for holding a pane from an old basement window that I turned into an apothecary sign (using my Silhouette Cameo).

To explain why the signs says what it does:
DH's name is Andrew and our living children are all boys.
1802 is the street address of the first house we lived in after we were married.

I re-sized the frame to fit the glass and this became to top of my medicine cabinet door. I used miscellaneous pieces leftover from the vanity project to create a faux apothecary chest in the bottom part of the door.

It was very hard to get a decent picture on this cloudy day.
Hopefully, this gives you the idea. When it's hung on the wall,
I will post additional pictures.

I wanted the 'drawer fronts' to look used (worn and banged up).

For them, I used the long trim board from along the bottom front of the cabinet. This had also gotten wet at some point which had darkened it but it wasn't rotten yet. The bottom of this board that had gotten banged and worn along the floor became the top edges of the 'drawers'.

After cutting all my pieces and fitting them together like a puzzle, I glued, then nailed them to a piece of 1/4" plywood (that I rescued from Uncle's burn pile).

I used Minwax Provincial stain over the whole thing which beautifully brought out the wood grain. After that dried, I applied clear wax to seal it.

Lastly, I applied the porcelain knobs from Menards ($1.10 each) to the center of each 'drawer front'. I'm not wild about how bright white they are. I'd have liked something a little more 'old' looking. I actually found a set that had enough on eBay but the cost defeated the whole 'frugal' idea. :D

So that they were all placed the same, I made a template and just laid it on the wood and drilled through my hole. Like so:




So that's my "apothecary" medicine cabinet door. I will show you the whole cabinet in another post. (I need my drill to finish it!!)

Total cost of this phase of the project:
     12 knobs @ $1.10 each = $13.20
           (Everything else was supplies I had on hand.)

UPDATE: The completed project can be viewed HERE.

From the Farmhouse


Linking to:
Saturday Night Special on Funky Junk Interiors

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP

Show Me What Ya Got @ Not Just a Housewife

Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time

29 comments:

  1. AMAZING...you are gifted! love, love the sign - lettering is def NOT my thing! Esther

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  2. Rachel, you have done it again. Your work is incredible. I just love how old wood, hardware, useless things can be made into usable, valued items again. I look forward to the total reveal.

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    1. Aww, thank you, Helen! I love doing this kind of thing. :)

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  3. AMAZING!!! It looks awesome as is, but I can't wait to see the whole thing! You really do some great work!

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    1. Thanks, Stephanie! You do as well. I love seeing you post a new project. :)

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  4. Well now, isn't that the most darling thing ever?!! I LOVE IT!! You have amazing talent!!

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  5. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing! I hope you'll come link this up at Knick of Time Tuesday.

    Blessings,
    Angie @ Knick of Time

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    1. I'll be there, Angie! Thank you for the invitation.

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  6. Loving your cabinet. And I especially love when a personal touch is added, like you did with the window!

    Missy~JunkFest

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  7. This is my first visit to your blog. I am glad I found it because your project is probably the most creative thing I have seen all week, maybe all month! I will be coming back to see more of your finished projects. Drop by to visit me, I love meeting fellow bloggers.--------------Shannon

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  8. OH my word - this is amazing!! But what is an silhouette cameo? I need to know how you made that sign! Love it.

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    1. Thank you! A Silhouette Cameo is a die cutting machine similar to a Cricut. The difference is, a Cameo connects to your computer and can cut ANY design versus a Cricut uses cartridges and is more limited. I designed the sign then cut it out of white vinyl and stuck it to the glass. Hope this answers your question! :)

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  9. I would love to find an apothecary cabinet like this one! So beautiful-great find and great job revamping it!

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  10. Gorgeous cabinet! I love the meaning behind your sign, too... very creative!

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  11. Awesome! You need to go into business... you'd sell a ton of these! And I would be first in line ;)

    This would fit into my Victorian Studio perfectly and am still on the lookout for an old one - with the costs so crazy, I just may need to use yours as a template to make my own too!

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  12. Looking forward to seeing the finished item, what fun!!!

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  13. That turned out fantastic! Good job.

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  14. Sweet!! love this cabinet and you did it up perfectly!

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  15. I can't believe that you got that cabinet for free off Craigslist. I need to spend more time on there! Can I tell you that I never thought to make a template for knobs either. Thanks for visiting my blog so that i could come over and visit yours. Love the grain sack design on the sides too!

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  16. This apothecary door is beautiful and so vintage looking--very pretty transformation, Rachel!

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  17. All I can say is "WOW"! I love to see what you do with "junk"! Can't wait to see the finished product!
    Gina

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  18. Very creative.

    love that used up all the spare pieces of wood. ~Pat

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  19. Hi Rachel ... I tried responding to the comment you left on my blog about the bottle labels ... but it kept bouncing back to me...not sure why.
    http://megsminitreasures.blogspot.com/p/old-labels.html

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  20. So very clever! I can't wait to see what else you've done in that bathroom. Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your inspiration!

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  21. I love it and can't wait to see the final reveal! I'm a new follower!

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Thanks for taking the time to make my day with your comments!