Tutorial Tuesday - Match Making

Today is Tutorial Tuesday and we are going to talk about Arranged Marriages.  Let me just confess, right from the start.  I am a match maker.  I love putting together pieces of vintage and antique furniture to make fresher, prettier or more functional pieces.  Today you will witness the marriage of a set of cubbies and a small cabinet with screened doors.   I found the small cabinet at Treasures, the antique store where I work. 

It was in the mall over a year before I talked the dealer down to a price that I could work with.   I found the cubby set at a flea.o.logy sale last summer.  It was painted turquoise blue and had no back on it.  As you can see I tried a couple of methods for painting it, before settling on the tedious choice of hand painting it with a brush. The two were attached by making the back piece of plywood slightly longer than the cubbies and attaching it not only to the cubby but to the small cupboard as well.  (We used screws)  After I finished painting the entire married piece with a slightly cream colored paint, that looks like an aged white, I set to work putting on a transfer by my preferred method of reverse modpodge application.   This includes printing off the graphic in a reverse mode, and trimming it closely.  Then painting the front with Modpodge.  The graphic is then placed face down into the position you want for your furniture item.  Press it firmly into place with your fingertips, until it has no bubbles and is fully adhered.  Allow it to dry for 3 or so hours then, with slightly dampened finger tips, rub away the extra paper.  Its messy and imperfect, as you will rub off some bits of the graphic inadvertently, yet it suits vintage and antique items, as one wouldn't expect perfectly intact graphics on an antique.

Next I got out my rubber number stamps and numbered each box.  I think it makes the cubbies look like the key holders they had in old hotels.  This is kind of fun, because the graphic I found at Graphics Fairy is for a French Lock making company.  I like how the key element and the lock graphic dovetail.

Here it is with a few of my orphan figural salt and pepper shakers, just for fun.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  It is fuctional and whimsical at the same time.   

Thanks for coming along and witnessing the marriage of these two great old pieces.