Card Catalogue Media Console

Remember those amazing drawers I spotted in an old plane hanger where my dad works? I loved the way they were perfectly imperfect. Handmade, weathered, layered with paint and labeled with yellowing masking tape. I snapped the above photo of them and then must have talked them up quite a bit, because a month or so later, my dad called to say that he'd bought them from his boss for a six pack of -er- drinks. ;)

We brought them home after I spent the summer with my parents again this year. We nearly killed ourselves lifting them onto the roof {those things are HEAVY} and burnt up the transmission. {I guess you can't go 80 mph over a mountain pass while hauling a few hundred pounds of card catalogues. Now you know.}

But it was worth it. Because I turned those drawers into this:

I'm in love. We can never, ever, ever move from this house because it will be impossible to budge this beast, let alone maneuver it out of a door; but still-- I'm in love. 

Here's how I did it:

I built it in a weekend, and since I was working alone, I chose to do it in the room where it would be placed. Because HEAVY.

The drawers were actually two separate pieces that had, at one point, been one unit. {Over the years, someone had cut it in half and stacked the two halves on top of each other, so I was just 'restoring' it.}

I bought two sheets of 3/4" Birch Plywood that I had cut to size at Home Depot. After drilling all my pocket holes and installing 5 vintage furniture legs on the bottom slab, I assembled the frame around the old card catalogue drawers and ended up with this:

That top shelf was waaay too tall. After conducting a quick poll via text-message, I confirmed that the rule of thirds was being blatantly violated and took a skill saw and fence to it to remedy the situation. Much better:

Next, I mixed up two batches of chalk paint using this recipe. One was a darker turquoise type blue called Araucana by Martha Stewart. The second was a light minty blue. {it was made by just mixing a bunch of leftover paint I had, so no name or brand, sorry.}

I painted the entire thing with Araucana first, then sanded it lightly before layering the minty blue on top of it and sanding it again. As I sanded, bits of the darker Araucana blue and even the original forest green would show through. Which is exactly why I wanted to use chalk paint-- I wanted this piece to have the weathered texture and patina that I loved, without having to incorporate forest green into my design scheme. ;)

After lots of painting and sanding {and cleaning up all the minty green dust left behind} I had to wax and buff the entire thing. Oh, those drawers. I had to wax Every. Single. One.

This is where the color really started to come alive. The wax somehow revealed all the layers that had been hidden under a dusty top coat:

See how it all looks mint green except for the waxed portion on the interior drawer? Suddenly you see the darker blue! So cool. {And Oh! How I love all that chipping!}

Next, I had to house all the media components and hide the wires. Most of those cables ended up in the wall, but I was glad for the hidden ledge for all the power strips and stuff.

Finally, I ordered 75 antique brass card catalogue pulls with brass screws, centered them as best I could, and printed off labels as a finishing touch.

And that, my friends, is how I ended up with the coolest media console EVER.

While I still haven't finished styling it, {I want to hang the television on the wall and perhaps replace all those books on the shelves with graphic black and white boxes like this and this} I have to say that I just may want to be buried in this thing. Yes, it would take a crane to lower it into the ground, but as with everything related to this beauty-- it would be worth it. :)

PS- I have conflicting emotions about the missing drawers. Too distracting? Adds character? I had planned on building replacements, but they're starting to grow on me. Maybe leave just two or three empty?