Showing posts with label RCA Cabinet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RCA Cabinet. Show all posts

Friday, November 2, 2012

Mmmmmmmmm BOP!

My grandfather (aka Bop) lived to be a 101 years old! Who does that??? I hope not me! That is soooo old! Ugh!

When he died several years ago, many of his belongings found a home at my Mom's house. I eyed up a cabinet she kept in the front bedroom and when I moved into my new house she begged me to finally take it away. So the story goes: my mom, her sister and her brother all pitched in and bought Bop an RCA Victor record player console. I did little to no research on this piece, but from what I Googled I'm guessing it was made some time around 1949-1951. Not super old, but old.

I can certainly see why nobody but me was really interested in the piece. I saw the potential as soon as it came to her house.

Of course, because I'm horrible at the before pictures, this is a pic I found online. It is an exact match. The condition of mine may have been slightly better, but not much.


Yep, she's a beaut!

I found this pic online to show you what was inside:


WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
To those people who are offended by anyone who would "destroy" an antique by not restoring it to its' original glory, you may want to look away....

Although I have a great appreciation for the beauty of original pieces, for the most part I will paint it, hammer it, glue it, put glitter on it, you name it, and I will do it. (Oh and for the record while I’m at it, I will also paint oak trim AND brick)

That was your warning, because here it comes.... my trash to treasure....


So what did I do? First let me say this was another project that took FOREVER! Mainly because I just cannot make things easy on myself. If the shortest route between two points is a straight line, I can assure you I will take the curviest line possible. I'd like to think that it has been during these long curvy routes, I've learned a lot along the way.

Yeah. Sure. Ok.

I started this project in the summer of 2011. Yes, you read that correctly... over a year ago. Now it didn't take me a year to do it, in reality it probably took me a week or so, give-or-take. First I ripped out all of the guts. The radio and record players didn't work, so I didn't feel bad getting rid of everything. Then I tore out the lovely gold speaker fabric with metal accent thing (not sure what to call it). Then I applied the first coat of stripper and scraped it off.

The project came to a screeching halt. Why? Because stripping wood SUCKS! I mean, it really sucks! But like all projects, I invested, so I had to finish the job.

This summer I was back at it and I stripped and stripped and stripped. Then I sanded…A LOT. Finally, I was able to stain it with left over stain from the work my husband is doing in the basement. I'm not sure what kind of stain this was, but I like to call it “magic stain”. Because it looks like stain, but goes on like paint. I really, reaLLY, REALLY wish I would have known that before I spent hours stripping this piece. I'm not 100 % certain, but in hindsight I think I could have probably gotten away with giving this piece a light sand and then applied the stain without all that stripping. I can't even begin to tell you how comforting that thought is! It’s so nice to know that yet again I’ve wasted tons of time.

Anyway, here's the project cost break down:

Cabinet..........................................Free
Stain..............................................Free
Stripper.........................................$10
Bin pulls (Home Depot) ..............$20
Knobs (Ikea) ................................$6
Basket (Meijer).............................$15
______________________________
Total Cost.....................................$51

Not bad for a new cabinet! I'm very pleased with the finished project. I think it's a total transformation.

~Sheila

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