Thrift Store Repurpose

Message Center

I love finding things at the thrift store that everyone thinks are junk.  I think this was originally used in a bathroom.  The hole in the center had a cardboard insert with a hole in it that appeared to be where a light came through.  On either side there's a little shelf area.  

After scrubbing it clean, it was absolutely filthy, I spray painted everything with a primer and then two coats of Heirloom white paint.

After the paint was dry, I antiqued everything with a little acrylic brown paint and water.  This step gave it the aged look I was hoping for.

 

Next, I antiqued vintage music paper to place in the inset on each side.  After the paper was dry, I used a stencil and black stencil paste to add a raised focal image to each side.  After the paste was dry, I decoupaged the music paper to each side.

The last step was to fill the middle.  I knew I wanted to make this a message center but wasn't quite sure what would fit and function in the center.  I also knew I wanted to incorporate some burlap and an image from Graphics Fairy but to what end I wasn't sure.  

Once I got a plan and decided on the image, I ironed my burlap to freezer paper and ran it through my inkjet printer.  I then centered the burlap over a piece of foamcore board, stretched it around the back and hot glued it in place.  I then stretched ribbon and glued each end to the back.  Lastly, using a strong needle and thread, I sewed vintage buttons at each intersection of the ribbon.  The buttons make it sturdy enough to slide papers into and hold them tight. I then covered the back and slid the whole thing carefully into the channel.

Since it's metal, I also made some fun magnets to use on each side.  I'll show them next time.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking!