Wooden Crate '57'

My love for boxes gets extended to crates, old wooden ones that had a solely functional purpose -like this one.
Made out of sturdy pinewood, quite big (57cm long, 27cm wide and 16cm deep) and with a lovely rustic feel. And quite dirty, too! On the sides, almost completely faded but still visible, the name of a factory in Galicia (in the north-west coast of Spain), and the fabrication date of, what I suppouse, the seafood cans that must have carried inside: 1954.

Even though I restored the crate with a distressed finish on the outside and, looking close, some traces can still be seen, there was no way to preserve the printings -so I decided to at least keep a reminder of that date, and painted the number 57 on both the long sides of the box. It also helps keeping the industrial look to the piece.

I have reinforced the bottom adapting three slats of a small pallet, treated the wood, added two iron handles on the sides and four white casters to easily move it. The numbers and the inside are painted on a warm mustard tone, the outside in distressed off-white. Now it is still a practical and useful crate (great to keep magazines, toys, blankets and so), but attractive too!

Some pictures of the crate, prior its transformation. On the right, the print on one side with the making date ("Fcion. 1957") that would give me the idea to paint the number 57 on the sides.
Below, the upside-down trademark -it was too faded, the legible parts read "Industrias Gallegas S. A[...] Marín (Pon[tevedra)]" Cute! Shame that it was impossible to keep it.

And here, the making process, step by step: First, a thorough cleaning and complete sanding of both the crate and the pallet slats,

Treating the wood, sanding the tips of some of the nails (they had pierced the surface at some points),

'Dry-painting' the outside of the crate with a self-made off white, and mixing the colours for the mustard tone in the inside

Nailing the slats in the bottom (and reinforcing the whole structure where needed), then sanding the off-white coat to get a distressed finish

Painting the number 57 on both long sides of the crate, varnishing (and polishing the whole piece, not shown)

Polishing the iron handles, and finally fastening the hardware: handles and casters

 

Bronze Drop Pull Necklace -Blue

With its original 'V' and 'Y' structure plus the mix of colours and materials, this is a sticking necklace that combines well with many dress styles, from classic to retro or even jeans! 36cm long.

The pendant is made out of a big ornated cast bronze drop pull, taken from a drawer of a vintage cabinet, separated from the rest of the pull and polished.
The cord combines threads of turquoise waxed cotton and light blue suede, joined with small brass crimps and rings, plus fine gauge rolo brass chain.

Barrel brass clasp at the back.

Bronze Drop Pull Necklace -Green

With its original 'V' and 'Y' structure plus the mix of colours and materials, this is a sticking necklace that combines well with many dress styles, from classic to retro or even jeans! 36cm long.

The pendant is made out of a big ornated cast bronze drop pull, taken from a drawer of a vintage cabinet, separated from the rest of the pull and polished.

The cord combines threads of thin dark green waxed linen and lime green suede, joined with small brass crimps and rings, plus fine gauge rolo brass chain.
Barrel brass clasp at the back.

Industrial Stool

One project that I liked so much, such a pity that this dark winter weather has not let me take proper pics of the result.. I hope they're enough for you get an idea of how nice this stool looks, with its combination of rough, sturdy metal, and the softly polished wooden seat.

This industrial stool from the 50s had its four legged iron base and chromed foot rest painted green at some point, plus the seat had been replaced by a plastic upholstered one, surely in the 70s by the look of it.

I took the seat away, and adapted a wooden one from a 60s stool (the lovely slats of thick pine wood revealed after stripping it off from the melamine cover. Took a while to do so, and to sand it all smooth, but it was worthwhile!)
I also scraped some of the green paint from the legs to reveal the original black iron underneath, and polished the whole foot rest ring, the joint with the four feet and their tips.
Now the structure and different materials are highlighted, as they deserve, and it looks much more interesting!

31cm diameter, 64cm high

Above: the stool, prior the intervention. Below: some pictures taken during the making process -loads of scraping and polishing; taking out the melamine trim (after stripping the top surface); mounting the base of the seat; varnishing.