I saw a cabinet, I loved that cabinet, I didn't buy that cabinet. And then one year later I did. Here's how I'm making an antique hardware cabinet that's too big work in a space that's too small.
There aren't a lot of things I hand off to other people to do for me. It's usually faster, easier and cheaper for me to do it myself. Except laser eye surgery. I let someone else do that. It's been 20 years and I'm still kind of disgruntled about it.
When I first saw (with my laser vision) this cabinet at an antique store I loved it but ignored it because it was about 12" too long for the space I had in my kitchen.
You know you really like something when you can't stop thinking about it. For a year. So when I saw the cabinet again this summer I realized I was probably never going to forget about it and I'd better just buy it. If only to free up some space in my brain for thinking about other things, like what to make for dinner.
I took a good look at at the cabinet and realized if I cut a small middle section out if it, the cabinet would be the exact right length.
I thought of doing it myself but I'd have to buy a router and a few other tools to do the job right, plus where ... I mean seriously ... WHERE did I think I was going to get the time to do this? Before or after having a time saving feeding tube inserted?
After spending a week thinking about it, I waved a dingy white tea towel in surrender and called "my guy".
My guy is an antique furniture restorer who can turn anything into anything.
Half of the battle when hiring someone to do a job you can't or don't want to do is finding the right person. That person should generally not be drunk when you meet them. It was after finding the wrong person to fix my fence over a decade ago that I plunged deep into the world of DIY.
After interviewing a stampede of fence fixing guys I settled on one of the two guys who showed up. I picked the one who was sober. At 10 a.m. And he still made a complete mess of my fence.
I used this antique restorer years ago when I had 2 antique single beds that I wanted to be turned into a Queen sized bed. It turned out seamless. No one would EVER know my bed used to be 2 beds.
So I had my antique hardware cabinet delivered straight to my guy and I was there ready and waiting when it arrived. I hadn't seen the cabinet for a few weeks so I was eager to get reacquainted with my love.
That's when I started taking a good look at things. I took one of the drawers out and looked inside to discover a square of discolouration and 4 screw holes. Hmm. Interesting.
I asked both the antique dealer who delivered it and the guy restoring it and they both said LOCKS! Apparently each and every one of these drawers used to have locks on them.
Sure enough, after looking at some of the other longer drawers in the piece, there was a lock. A single drawer was left with a lock.
The rest of the 60 or so drawers had the locks removed and cheap knobs installed over the holes. I knew the knobs were awful, but I didn't know there was such a big hole underneath them.
This was going to slightly limit my knob choices when it comes time to replace them.
Then I started thinking - it might be nice to have it restored to its original condition with cylinder locks.
Which got me to thinking even more. Why would a hardware store lock EVERY single drawer they had? It didn't make sense. Screws, nuts, nails ... are those the sort of things you would lock up? I didn't think so, but this cabinet is probably from around 1900 so maybe nails were a lot more valuable then. Who knows, maybe they were special nails made from the bones of gunslingers or something.
The other possibility is something my uncle mentioned.
He said he remembers seeing a cabinet similar to this as a young boy in a pharmacy and it was an apothecary cabinet. Now. If all these drawers were filled with medicine from the 1900s like cocaine, heroin, morphine ... you know, the regular old painkillers of the day, then it would make sense to have locks on all the drawers.
I really do like the idea of restoring the cabinet to how it originally would have looked. Of course putting locks on all the drawers means they're going to be a bit of a pain to get into. Not necessarily a bad thing if you store potato chips, crack pipes or chocolate covered almonds in them.
You see, with cylinder locks you don't have knobs, you just have the lock. You stick the key in, turn the lock and use the key as a knob to pull the drawer out. Kind of a pain when you just want to grab a roll of masking tape or bottle of oregano.
But. Original.
But. A pain in the bum.
But. Really cool.
But. Almost impossible to replicate. Places like D. Lawless and House of Antique Hardware have really good replica knobs, pulls and other stuff but no one seems to have outstanding antique cylinder locks with a gentle burnished look and authentic matching keys. Go figure.
My cabinet is in line to be worked on but won't be started until around the middle of September. I'll tack a couple of weeks on just in case, which means I'll possibly get my cabinet home by the beginning of October.
I have between now and then to decide on my knob/lock situation. I realize knobs are the more practical choice, but so is shaving your head as opposed to dealing with washing and drying it.
Or wearing glasses instead of getting laser eye surgery.
Or eliminating chewing by inserting a feeding tube.
Update: The cabinet is now home and it looks great. You'd never know it was cut down. You can see and read about it here.
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Wait a minute. You don't own a router? Good lord, we (and by "we" I mean my resident woodworker) have around 12, give or take a few. Your official DIY club membership could be in jeopardy... just sayin'.
YOU DON'T HAVE A ROUTER???? I have three and use them all...oh I have four counting the one on my Dremel tool.
You really need to get a router ---- then you'll need a good assortment of bits. Good bits are expensive and should be stored under lock and key.....ah, there's your answer Karen.
Hah! just read your post after posting mine below... sorry but Dremel ones don't count lol!
LOL. I know. I do not have a router. I look at them and them am overwhelmed at the choices. ~ karen!
I just cannot!
I'm like...........
It never ends, does it.?
The things one has to do.
May everything turn out wonderfully
Cabinet envy happening
OMGosh, I can’t wait to see how this beautiful cabinet turns out. That aside, I must say, first I got a little chuckle over your pry bar and floor post on IG and now ending the day with this gem. You have such a way with phrasing things. I don’t know whether that makes you a genius or me weird, but I will stick with your adventurous spirit. I relate!
I'm sure I'm a genius. Pretty sure. ~ karen!
Totally off topic...or maybe not...my daughter's last name is Lawless :) I'm gonna have to go check out their site.
Little lengths of hemp rope with a knot tied on each end to secure them in the hole. Imagine how many $80's that's going to save you! 😉
My computer freezes if I try to scroll back up and read the beginning of your post, and can't remember if you said that it had been a hardware cabinet or not. But to find out if it had been an apothecary cabinet, try smelling the drawers (yikes, there's a joke there if you want it, no charge), you should still be able to smell some of the stronger odors of the various medicines.
Well now I"m upset because the cabinet isn't here and I can't do that, lol. ~ karen!
http://www.houseofantiquehardware.com has cute label holder drawer pulls that might help you find things at a glance. I would envision myself going through all the drawers everytime I wanted to find something. Although, original is always appropriate so locks would be cool too!
I don't think it's from an old post office because that would need to be backless with a hinged door on the front of each box, grew up in a small town that had old old post office boxes which they'd load from the behind and we'd each take our keys for the boxes. The drawers say to me an apothicary cabinate. Finding matching keys and locks might be cost prohibitive (and crazy-making in the worst kind of way). I first thought what about a leather pull with a wooden dowel (kind of like the buttons on old kids coats?) Simple and attractive! Then I came up with a doozy of an idea, since it's in your kitchen or will be in 6 weeks or so, what about making pulls out of old spoons?
Googling 'antique apothecary knobs' came up with several pics of these square porceline ones. They're pricey of course and don't have the right words on them that you'll need for identifying chocolate and cat treats. but I betcha you could MAKE them, with teeny words like "Whisk. Lick" or " Cad. Bury" .
Ha! ~ karen
I know you will magically stumble (with much preparation) onto the exact right thing to use for knobs. I agree labels would be too busy, but maybe having just one row of locked drawers would add an extra touch of mystique to that fabulous piece. Does it make me sound like I'm too caught up in details if I mention I would just keep a numbered list of what each drawer is for as a help when I wasn't in the mood to look through every single drawer to figure out where I stored that feeding tube?
That is gas,,,,I thought, when I read your last post about the cabinet, that it looked very much like an antique pharmacy cabinet!!!!
Will be very interested to see the finished product, and what you do with the piece that is cut out of it.
I wish I had a guy like yours. I've a fabulous piano that my parents restored, beautiful inlay, but doesn't play well. I'd love the goat it made into a glass cabinet.
Hi Miriam. I have OCD & just keep scrolling back to your comment, as I realise the last line is a typo, but can't work out what it is meant to say!
Karen, have you ever watched "Border Control"? Take a few drawers to the airport & ask them to do the "Drug swab" thing! It picks up the tiniest amount of residue, even at that age! It will save you having to"Sniff your drawers"! LOL!
Or hire a "drug sniffing" Bloodhound for a day!
Omg! thanks Lez for pointing that out! Meant to say "I'd love to have it made into a glass cabinet"!!!!!
Hi Karen! I live on a sailboat (it keeps me from buying too many antiques!) and we have hole pulls for many of our cabinets. They need not be plain holes though. You can do something like put in a wood or metal ring in to make it look finished. They even make internal latches, which you open with your inserted finger, but I'm sure you won't need those in your drawers. A marine hardware supplier might have something of interest. Best of luck making a decision and I can't wait to see the result!
Thanks Shawna! I'd like to see the whole sailboat! ~ karen!
I think the lock holes look like good pull holes. Stick your finger in and pull.
Love your cabinet, and reading everyone's ideas for the drawers. How about something from Lee Valley? I like the campaign-style pulls, because they're flush with the flush with the wood.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=73173&cat=70806,43566,43567&ap=1
Just wanted to let you know that my summer squash plant is still alive due to you. It was too late for my zucchini, but after digging out two disgusting borer larvae, and covering the stalk with soil, I am still harvesting. Thank you from Massachusetts.
Hey Heidi. You're welcome! I think I'm the only one up at my garden whose squash vines are still monstrous. ~ karen