Thrift Store Dictionary and a $1 Cabinet

Let me start by saying that I LOVE books.

I have seven bookcases FULL in my home right now.

That said, I also love to use aged books

 in my projects and this outdated, trashed

 dictionary is no exception.

Upcycling an old book and restyling a cabinet? It's a match 

made in book and furniture recycling heaven.

This is one of my favorite projects!

Insanely Clever Christy is very methodical with the dictionary pages. I am more of a "tear it into random shapes" kind of gal. We knew this dictionary would be perfect for this project.

We found this solid wood cabinet for $1.

ONE DOLLAR! A SINGLE BUCK!

Ahem.

Finds like this are my number one reason for Thrift Store shopping.

After a thorough cleaning and two coats of Country White latex paint, the door panels get the book page treatment.

A bit of edge sanding give them a vintage vibe. 

Black spray paint updates the knobs and then creative wrapping 

of hemp twine  and hot glue for the edges and around the pulls

 gives it just the right touch!

Wow! I LOVE the way this came out!!

Clear acrylic sealer finished her up and now she is in our guest bathroom. 

She is a classy addition!

Best of all? The entire project cost us less than $5 total.

The old dictionary was $1.

The cabinet was $1.

The Mod Podge came from my stash.

The clear acrylic sealer was on clearance at $2.89.

Time invested....maybe four hours.

I call this one a win win!

And one of the best parts is that we still have most

 of this dictionary for MORE book page projects!

An old illustrated dictionary and a $1 thrift store cabinet. 

One of my most favorite projects EVER.

What's not to love? 

One Dollar Cabinet Redo

Don't you love it when you drive up to the local Salvation Army and they're just putting out a bunch of stuff on their sidewalk marked one dollar??? I tell you, for a cheapaholic like me, it was a thrill! I picked up lots of stuff. A TON. Filled my car up for less than ten dollars. 

So here she is, a sturdy all wood, not particleboard, cabinet with two tight doors and a neat little nook at the bottom. Yeah, she was dirty and had a bad paint job but her potential was so great that when my daughter, Insanely Creative Christy, came to visit and asked if I had any fun projects on tap, well, you know what happened next!

We love to use old book pages for our projects and this old, decrepit dictionary with brittle brittle pages was just the ticket. LOVE the old pen and ink illustrations in these old books. They are little works of art.

Christy painted the whole cabinet with the Country White latex I have in my stash. It goes perfectly with the vintage look of the book pages.

Here is the little nook with the start of the process. Mod Podge rocks! Tho we've learned to save money by using plain Elmer's school glue for the first phase then finish with 2 coats of Mod Podge for a nice sheen. Creative and CHEAP, that's us!

Here are the doors after their first coat of Mod Podge, drying overnight. Already they look so much better!

Ah, the details!! Christy finished the edges of the book page insets with jute twine, spray painted the fixtures with oil rubbed bronze and THEN added jute to the knobs for an extra kick of texture and interest. She sanded the the edges with The Welding Man's palm sander and VOILA! Beautiful! We don't call her Insanely Creative Christy for nothing!

Just look at how gorgeous Miss One Dollar Cabinet looks now. She's in the hallway bath for that extra bit of style and storage that every bathroom needs. We're still deciding whether to book page her side. What do you think?

I think Christy has given Pottery Barn a run for their money on this one, don't you? So creative and clever and CHEAP! This project is a win, win, win.

I'm hooking up to the fun parties on my sidebar. Please join me for some wonderful projects and a great group of bloggers. See you there!