Celebrating 100 posts of blargh

I had planned on saving my 100th post for the backsplash-- I've waitd so long for it, and I think it's going to make such a difference. But when I got home tonight, I knew that the C post would be devoted to tolling the death knell of my Bar-To-Be, a project I started some 2 years ago.

When I moved back to Arkansas, I had no furniture. In the 2 years preceding, I'd moved to New York and then to London, and I managed to shed everything I had. So I was collecting anything anyone would give. And one of the pieces of free furniture that I collected was an ugly 80s style pressboard, fake-veneered secretary. I used it as a sideboard thing. Then after a couple of years it became the kiddo's desk/dresser. When she got her first set of big girl stuff, the secretary became homeless and I devised a plan to turn it into a bar. I would build in space for glasses and racks in the drawers for liquor bottles; then I wanted to put a wall-mount wine rack on the side. I took off the door, took out all the slot compartments, filled the hinge holes with putty, was given a glass rack, chose a paint color...and then life got in the way. That, and a lack of power tools made it hard to want to continue sanding down that putty:


At any rate, now that we've moved, it's been sitting outside; I'd hoped that the aid of power tools would boost the project, and we could use it as a microwave cart until then. During modifications of the top piece to get the microwave to fit, we realized that it is truly a piece of shit. Its fate was not to be a bar, but rather a potting stand, supply cabinet, or kindling.

I really liked the idea of repurposing such an ugly ass piece of furniture; I was going to use the leftover bathroom paint (red!) on the outside and glossy black on the insides of the cabinet and drawers, with 1950s art deco revival style hardware. It showed such promise! It's useful now, though,


and it will continue to be useful in some other capacity. In fact, it currently occupies a place of honor in the loveliest corner of the house these days. That's the pantry. Really! It is!!! See? Here's the before:


Thanks Adam! We also have a dining room chandelier and potted herbs. But I digress.

I will get my bar. We'll hit up the junk stores for a slightly less shitty something that I can convert into a cocktail cabinet. Or we'll build one from scratch, and it will be destined to have glossy black insides and red outsides and fancy hardware. It just wasn't in this little guy's future.

So 2 years after removing that front door, I say goodbye to a project that's had a permanent spot in the back of my mind.