Sunday, May 6, 2012

Vintage Bread Box Project is Done!

Whew have I been busy lately.  I made it to one estate sale this weekend and scored another toolbox very similar to my project toolbox, and I also found a great buy on a 32-foot extension ladder. (I've needed one of those ever since we moved to this house six years ago, but I could never justify buying a new ladder because they're so expensive.  Let's just say that I got a heckuva deal on the ladder.)

Today I finally finished up the bread box project.  I thought long and hard on a color.   I have not yet found a good mint green or turquoise in a spray can, but I sure wish Rustoleum would offer these retro colors.  In the end, I went with canvas white, which I believe is very close to the original color.  It goes well with the copper lid, don't you think?


I'm pretty sure the lid was anodized originally.  After I got all the pink paint off of it I buffed it with some fine bronze wool.  It still shows some blemishes, but the thing must be at least 45 years old.  The small knob at the top twists to release the catch and the door drops forward.  That knob also was painted pink, and it took some work to get all the paint off without destroying the plastic knob itself.  Since I had some canvas white paint made especially for painting plastic, I painted the knob too.



The inside of the lid is a thin piece of wood.  I used some Howards Feed 'N Wax on it after lightly sanding to remove paint and some errant paint stripper spots. (We won't be using the lid as a cutting board, so I'm not worried about bread contacting the waxed wood, but you certainly would want to consider this before doing what I did.)


Here again are a couple shots of the bread box as I found it for $2.




I'm very happy with the way this turned out.  Now I'll be watching for more of these needing rescue. :-)

14 comments:

  1. The breadbox looks fantastic. No one would ever guess that it looked so sad before.

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  2. What a dramatic change, great job. I love the new copper finish.

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    1. Thanks, I'm counting on the worn copper to hide most fingerprints

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  3. It looks great! and It will fit right in with your newly varnished kitchen!

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    1. Thanks Mick, it was lucky that the copper lid ties in with the copper door/drawer pulls

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    1. The real irony here is, I'm stuck living on a gluten free diet (celiac) so only my wife and daughter will be using this bread box! My GF bread lives in the fridge or freezer. :-)

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  5. Oh wow, that breadbox looks just amazing now! Great job Uncle!!!

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  6. What a surprise--the copper door! I didn't remember you mentioning that when you found it. Looks great! Looks pretty big too! (Yeah, I gotta keep the GF bread frozen for it to stay soft!)

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  7. OK, I NEED that breadbox and hope I can find one just like it. It looks beautiful the way you have restored it.

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  8. PS, love the tips about Howards products. Back when I was doing a lot of refinishing, I was hooked on Formby's but last time I went looking, I couldn't find it.

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  9. I looks so good! I have a similar bread box that I put all of my coffee mugs in instead of bread. It keeps them hidden and saves me some cabinet space in my tiny kitchen.

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