I swore not to have anything antique-y or oak in my house, preferring lighter colored woods and spare lines. But when you see why I made an exception, you’ll understand.
Because today, I saw this on Craigslist:
And I knew I wanted it. I was in love. It was posted by someone in a town about 15 miles away from us, and is a postal storage/sorting cabinet from an old post office in central Nebraska.
For $25.00.
I called the seller and talked to her and decided I wanted it.
PC threw a fit. ”What are you going to use it for? Where is it going to go? You’re just going to get tired of it and throw it away in two years. ” And on and on. He was absolutely pissed.
Finally, I just said “I want it, and if I don’t get it, I’m going to think about it for the rest of my life and be bitter that you opposed it.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
I set up a time to look at it, and my friend Jenn went with me, along with Rabbit. When we arrived at the farm where it was being sold, I liked it immediately and even though it has some peeling veneer in spots, I knew I could use it. Each of the 20 doors has a little oval number plate, from 45 to 64. Each door has a little hole to reach in and pull the door open.
We loaded it into PC’s truck and drove back to my house. At around 9:00 p.m., PC’s friend Brendan came by and they toted it into the house and into my office. I immediately cleaned out each cubbyhole (and found a shoebox full of old Sprint flip phones that I’m going to donate to the battered women’s shelter). I sprayed the whole thing down with Pledge and cleaned off layers of dust.
And then I filled up almost every cubby. Boxes of colored pencils. Notebooks. Mother Earth News magazines. Writer’s Digest magazines. A stack of blocks from my childhood home. Crayons and coloring books. Photo albums.
On top, I put some special display pieces. Rabbit came in and stood there next to me, sighing in satisfaction. ”I’m glad we got this!” she said, finally.
Me too.
The cabinet in the truck - the top looked pretty bad but looks better now that I've cleaned it up.
One of the number medallions on the door
Cabinet in my office, with a few treasured things on top.
Another view of the cabinet in my office.
Some of the doors open showing what I have stashed inside
That is SOOOO appealing! I love it …
Oooo! It must be kismet. That wonderful treasure of a cabinet looks like it belongs in that office of yours. It looks like an heirloom! Think of all that it’s held over the years! Your heart must be just a-dancing at such a find – and such a fit in that space!
Oh my god I love it so much. That is AMAZING. I am way jealous. It’s so so amazing and it looks so perfect in that spot with the blue walls and those framed prints over it. It is awesome.
This is inspiring…
I LOVE it! I always drool over old pieces like that, and it looks like it has always belonged in the spot where you have it. Tell PC not to worry. If you get tired of it in a couple of years, I’d be happy to take it off your hands!
Wow, I love it! I second Heather, if you get tired of it, give it to me!
that is awesome!
What an awesome piece of furniture – it looks great against that blue wall. Even if you do get sick of it in two years that’ll mean you spent $12.50/year for the use of it. And by then you can probably ask $30 for it :)
It is great and looks perfect! I was looking on craigslist the other day and didn’t see it – darn…..
LOVE!!!
Nice find! And your room is lovely.
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I didn’t realize in the first picture that it sat on its “side” like that. I totally would have snagged that for my entryway. I could stash coloring books, crayons, paints, etc., for the kids in it!