Friday, April 11, 2014

Victrola to Serving Station

Hubby was tired of storing this old Victrola. It was in good working order, but no one wanted it. Couldn't even give it away. He was going to put it by the side of the road to see if there were any takers, or eventually donate it to our fire pit. Always ready to save a piece of old furniture I told him I wanted to keep it and make it over as a storage/serving station. Initially he wasn't that thrilled with the idea, but he let me bring it into the studio for it's remake.                                                        

Not thinking of the future, I didn't take a "before" picture. This picture was taken after I repaired the broken/missing applique pieces on the left side.

Because this piece is going to be used as a buffet, server and warming area, I wanted a top that would withstand heat, and I wanted it flush with the wood, so that meant routing out the area where the slate tiles would be placed.

Here I am clearing out the small pieces with a hammer and chisel. What fun! Really! I had a good time doing it, but I'll admit that the arthritis in my fingers acted up for a couple of days.

Here is the finished piece. I love the way it came out, and hubby is thankful that he let me talk him into keeping it. He thinks it's awesome! I found the print for the fabric inlays on the internet and printed it on fusible fabric which I attached to a backing material. The panels are larger than the 8.5 x 11 printer sheets, so it had to be printed on several sheets and pieced together. I took two focal points from the original print that I liked and made them for the side panels. To bring a bit of the kitchen into the piece, I carried over my grape theme and painted the grape clusters on the side panels using water colors so that they would be the same texture as that produced by the inkjet printer. 

The original purpose for this cabinet is to house my deep fryer. I wanted to be able to use it, but also to not have the oil splatter on the wall. No matter how careful one is, it always splatters. The recessed shelf and the raised top solve that problem. It's easily cleanable too!

Here's our storage area. The dividers for the 33 rpm records were removed on either side to make room for hopefully my Ninja blender. (No.. I haven't measured it for fit.) The front panel that was originally a snap in place fascia to hide the mechanics of the Victrola was removed. Spring hinges were added, allowing the door to drop down and expose the storage area for the deep fryer. Yes, the deep fryer will fit in there nicely. :)
Well, that's all for today! Thanks for stopping in. I hope you've enjoyed my latest DIY project.
                 Huggs,
                              Joanie

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