May 21, 2012

Something Old Mail Storage


Our space isn't that big so sometimes I'm hesitant to bring in new furniture in the name of organization. After a fair amount of hemming and hawing we finally agreed that we needed something to control our mail/ change/ keys/ tons of little things that trickle in and land in mini-piles all over our house.

My mom's barn is a treasure trove of great finds and on a recent visit I spied these old mail cubbies that were just about perfect for the task. I love the rustic finish, although it's a little different from the aesthetic of the rest of the house. We did think about painting these (and honestly part of me still wants to do it)... but all the labels and paint drips are too cool to cover and I didn't want to ruin it for future enjoyment so we're going with it.

We tend to use the back door more in the winter and the front door in the summer, this has to do with both conserving heat and directing muddy boots. Since everything is better on castor's!, we put this guy on wheels (from Ikea- we liked the shiny new contrasting with the old) so that we can easily push it from the back door to the front to maximize the likelihood of collecting all our odd-and-ends in each season. The base of the cabinet isn't very thick, so we screwed in a piece of 1x and attached the castor's to that. It is recessed from the face on all sides so that you don't see it unless you get down low. (We are debating using a larger piece of wood to articulate more of a base but we'll see if we get around to trying that out!)

I'm looking forward to sorting through the piles and getting this thing stuffed, plus I discovered it's the perfect size for Little Smith's shoes at the moment which will work like a charm. We're hoping to spend most of our time outside in this nice weather, but it's fun to have something new (old) to greet me when I come home.

*footnote: In a twist of irony on the day that I post something on wheels, I just discovered this lovely mention of Little Smith's skater book cubby on Handmade Charlotte! I'm tickled to see it there and happy to find a great new blog too.

12 comments:

  1. LOVE it!!! Seriously, this is so great.

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  2. Great find! You are so creative!

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  3. So cool! I always really love things with teensy storage slots, but never know what to do with them. When we bought our house, it had these two huge mailroom storage things in the garage that I wanted to clean up and use, but I just couldn't get my act together about what to do with them. Also, they were home to about 12 billion wolf spiders....so we donated them. Now, seeing your awesome find, I am wishing I had just been more patient and cleaned the monsters out.

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  4. What a great find, and put to perfect use!

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  5. that is so cool...what an awesome find!

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  6. I love this...and I wouldn't paint it, those old labels are too beautiful cover! Great find :)

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  7. I love this box... It is really cool, rustic, functional... Don't color it, please! :) I've seen so many great things being ruined by the new paint...

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    1. Thanks, I know we won't paint it! I've seen some weathered pieces that I actually do like painted- but even if I liked it I wouldn't want to ruin it for someone else and I do love the history in the markings.

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  8. I've been looking for something like this to hold all the little things I've collected over time. It's simply beautiful! I'm gonna keeping my eyes open for such great find...maybe I'll get lucky!

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  9. How great that your mom had this lying around! I love a good storage item. I would not paint it. It looks perfect as is!

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  10. Is it nerdy to admit that one of my organizing dreams is to find the perfect mail sorter? Because it totally is. I absolutely love this - what a score!

    p.s. Just checked out the skater cubby - so cute!

    xo
    cortnie

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  11. Be still my heart. Ah, I love this. Beauty and function, the best of both worlds. My husband and I used to live in a converted shoe store and had a similar set up built into our living room wall. There's something really lovely about re-purposing something old and forgotten, giving it new life.

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