Pine Box Makeover, A Sweet Recipe Holder

Many of my projects are special.

At least to me anyway. 

 
For example, my dining room chair backs. After the chairs were all done I went back and hand stenciled the birth-dates of my kids next to each of the blank areas after "ROOM#".

If you look at the picture above of the chair back you can see where it says ROOM#. There are six chairs, and I happen to have six kids, so their birthdays are in place of actual room numbers.

Or the drawer pulls on the apothecary chest below. Each drawer pull is numbered and the numbers are the birthdays of my mom and dad and the parents of my better half, along with their first initial.

Today's project is special too, but it doesn't have birthdays on it.

This plain pine wood box has been in my laundry room for many years collecting pocket change, receipts, buttons and lint. The lid wasn't even on top of the box, I had to scout for it.

 
I mentioned in my last post how one thing led to another when my washing machine went kaput. The new washer arrived and the laundry room got a much needed cleaning and a little makeover, resulting in the dirty laundry hamper project {here}, as well as a makeover of the pine box above.

One of my six kids made the box. I'm not sure which one it was and neither are they. 

By process of elimination we all agreed it wasn’t the oldest or the three youngest, so that left two. Those two remembered making a box, but they couldn't be certain which of them were the owner. They both inquired if there was a name on it to solve the mystery. 

Why yes sweet children there is.... the initials scrawled on the back read..."ME", and those are not any of our initials.

 
 
I determined that of the two possible box cobblers, only one was the kind of smart azz that would label the box as theirs by using *ME* and forgo their actual initials, but to cover my bases I told both of the possible owners that the box was getting a makeover and moving out of the laundry room. 

The new home was going to be the kitchen, but the box needed an alteration first. 

It wasn't tall enough for it's new purpose, and the lid just rested on top and could slide all around and off, so a thin piece of wood was nailed on all the way around to raise it up, and a hinge from the garage was added to hold it in place.

 
 
An old fork was bent to the shape of a handle to open it, with a hole drilled in each end, then tried on for size on the new part of the box.
 

 

I used Fusion Mineral Paint in Ash and painted the whole thing inside and out. 

 

Just one coat as I wanted some of the old wood to show through when I sanded it, like it had been in my kitchen for many years not my laundry room.

 

I thought about making my own stencil with some clever saying on it, but why reinvent the wheel? I had a kitchen-ish stencil from Old Sign Stencils at the ready and it fit on top of the box like it was made for it. 

 

So the painted pine box got a little sugar.

 

 

That little jar of Fusion Mineral Paint in metallic silver was NOT used for the lettering, because at the last minute I decided to use the color Putty instead.

  

 I found some black handles in a junk bin and those were attached for easier moving from counter to counter when I'm cooking up a storm.

 

 

My recipe collection was a disaster. Split between one of those recipe binders and a little recipe tin I've had for over 30 years, and I could never find anything. 

 

I started off by researching new binders thinking maybe mine was just not the best version for organizing, and I came to the conclusion while some of the binders are really nice looking, they weren't any different than the one I had, and it was the whole concept of turning pages then pulling the recipes out that I didn't like. 

So I emptied and tossed the binder then got to organizing all my recipes. I'll have a post coming up on that, as well as the inside of the box and the homemade dividers I made.

But for now I'm admiring the way the former laundry room box looks in my kitchen.

 

If you're wondering about the opening picture of the locker tag that is on the front of the box, well it isn't from my locker. But I am a product of the Los Angeles Unified School district, and my dad was a long time employee, so that little tag is just the way I added a bit of nostalgia for myself. The place I went to school, on a pine box one of my kids made in school, holding the family recipes. Perfect.

 

Those school cooks DID make the best chili I ever had. Wednesday... that was chili day and I'd leave my lunch box and smelly tuna sandwich home and walk to school with my lunch money in my little red coin purse. 

 

But just on Wednesday, for chili day.  

 

Quick Links:

Old Sign Stencils

 Fusion Mineral Paint

Bliss Ranch Grain Sack Dining Chairs

Bliss Ranch Laundry Room Basket 

Bliss Ranch Apothecary Cabinet