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The life of a blogger can be so tough sometimes. I pride myself on keeping to my twice weekly schedule and this week… well I simply could not for the life of me finish a project. That was a first. Usually I get bogged down in Facebook. All of you bloggers out there know what I am talking about, and for all of you folks who do not blog, well let me explain. Sometimes it is just not possible to come up with a project in time for a post! Case in point this vintage coffee roaster repurpose.
I have had this whatchamacallit sitting in my foyer for well over a year now. Hubby bought it home one day (bless his heart) from the farm of all places. At first we didn’t know what it was. But then he guessed that it must have been a coffee roaster.
It sat in my foyer for a whole year while I scratched my head and stared at it! I couldn’t even open that door in the center.
At one point I even did some research and found one on e-bay that looks like mine. And here is a link of someone explaining how it works. Of course all that research did not help me in figuring out what to do with it.
The other day I was in Facebook, as I am all the time, and I asked my friends if they had any ideas. Well the angels must have blessed Michelle from A Crafty Mix because she instantly said to add …
Of course, I’m getting ahead of my story.
The first thing was to attempt to open that door. Half a bottle of DW-40 and still no luck.
I wanted to paint it and give it a shimmery look. I used DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in Bronze…
Oh, I was not compensated for this product in any way, I just love the stuff!
… with some green acrylic paint.
The result is “breen”! Bronze and green! Did I just invent a new color?
Now back to my story… Michelle suggested I add a solar light on top!
It sounded easy enough. Err, maybe not this way…
That’s a bit better but still not great.
At least now the solar light is not in danger of blowing away!
I stuck it into a succulent plant. Doesn’t it look gorgeous?
Almost like a marriage made in heaven…
Well, maybe not from this point of view!
It was at around this point that I grabbed a knife and pried the opening… nothing but dust inside. But I was on a mission…
I moved it to my planters with the wandering jews, the ones I had shown you in my balcony tour. But it still stuck out like a sore thumb.
Till we finally ended up here… in my favorite corner. It looks nice next to the trunks.
The trunks of the plant balance out the height of the coffee roaster and make it look like it belongs there.
Of course at night it looks even better. Haha!
So what is the moral of this story?
Don’t leave your vintage whatchamakallits out in your foyer for a year?
Mix your paints with abandon?
Make sure you know the top from the bottom of a coffee roaster?
Absolutely not!
It is this: When in a jam, make sure you stay on Facebook! You never know when a friend will help you out! Thank you Michelle! Go check out her blog, it is amazing!
I hope you all enjoyed my wacky tale of the “Breen” vintage coffee roaster repurpose. I know it is far from gorgeous, but at least I got it out of the foyer. What would you have done with it? And did I really invent a new color?
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I love what you ended up with Mary! I love my odd stuff, and eventually, years later, I usually figure out something to do with it. LOL
🙂 gwingal
Nikki, that’s me in a nutshell. It takes time to come up with ideas, or in this case to find the right friend to help out.
That is so cool, Mary! You are a smart and creative woman.
Thank you Stacey but the credit goes to Michelle on this project. She came up with this brilliant idea.
What a project! And such brilliant transformation.
Amalia
xo
Amalia thank you. It was more what to do with it that was the problem.
I do believe you invented a new color…breen? And you added our favorite texture, the rope and it could have only been made into a lamp of some kind so Mary. You did good.
Haha yes our favorite texture is the rope. You know I only added that because I couldn’t find any cool leather strips to add. Wouldn’t that have been better?
My grandma used to have one of those whatchamakallits! 🙂 I think you found a perfect spot for it and breen looks good on it!
Oh she did, did she? Well I suspect someone’s grandmother must have used this one too. Who knows how it ended up at the farm.
Mary, you are not only creative but so funny!! Love the story of your roaster and the many attempts to find the right place for it. By the way, that breen color is amazing!! I can see it on picture frames
Hum… now I am getting ideas Pili. You say picture frames and I have a few that could look pretty in Breen.
Hello Mary,
the coffee roaster did look nice in the succulent plant but it’s final destination sure is the best. And breen definitely is a gorgeous colour – maybe I’ll use it too!
Have a nice weekend,
Marjan
Marjan it looks good for now, but in the wintertime I may feel sorry for it and bring it indoors… It’s a never ending process.
Such an odd object but beautiful on its own way! I am really glad that you’ve given it life!
It really is odd and I didn’t want to just hide it away. I hope I can find somewhere to put it in the wintertime.
I love this! I would never have known it’s original purpose, but how cool is that? A coffee roaster! Your basement is full of so many amazing things, I look forward to seeing the magic you will work next.
I really like where this ended up, I agree, the height of the plant helps to showcase the roaster, and I bet it looks cool at night when the light comes on!
And I think that Breen is a really cool color. It reminds me of copper that has turned green, and I love that texture! Great job!
Thanks Nikki, it was time for me to move this baby and get it out of the foyer. They say necessity is the mother of invention, well I needed a post for that week and so this idea was born.
Yay! You got it to open. I like your new use of it and your new paint color. Thanks for sharing your fun project on Merry Monday.
Erlene I think that was the hardest part.
Mary, I love the coffee roaster it looks amazing! I especially love the color you chose! xo
I’m going to copyright it. “wink”
Ingenious Mary!! I love how the mix of the two paints gave such a brilliant effect!! Fantastic repurpose!!
And yes I totally get you with the whole facebook thing!!! 😉
Thank you Sam, I am still debating if I’ll leave it out there or bring it in for a Christmas repurpose.
This is so unique. We have a million rusted out cans at the foundry that we use for permanent molding. I would never have guessed we could paint over some of them to recycle.
Fantastic work!
Sure Pamela, and you can also use a spray sealant to keep the color and protect it. Good luck with your projects.
Funnily enough when I clicked through on the photo of your fabulous re-purpose I actually thought it was going to be one of Michelle’s projects – reading the post it all makes sense! Fabulous collaboration ladies x
Thanks Sarah, you know that Beatles song, I get by with a little help from my friends. Well, I would not have done this project without her.
While you make a good moral of the story I truly like Mix your Paint with abandon! The Breen is amazing~
Haha! Debbie I secretly like that one the best too. But we have to be grateful to our friends.
That’s very interesting….love the story & the humorous way you tell it. I certainly wouldn’t know what to do with it, but I wouldn’t throw it away. Glad you figured out a way to rescue it. It looks good in the plant. I thought it looked fine in the other plants too. Now I believe you have invented a new color…breen!
It was definitely not to be thrown away since Hubby gifted it to me. It’s better than flowers.. haha!
Now I’m thinking that it is such a nice color maybe I can bring it indoors for the winter and use it as a Christmas decoration.
Oh Mary, you crack me up!
Your watchamacallit is very cool and the color you ‘invented’ is really nice.
You may have been off schedule with this post, but it was worth waiting for.
XXX
Doreen sticking to that schedule can be easy sometimes and then we have days like this one where no amount of staring at something will give me results. Thank goodness for Michelle and her cleverness.
Well now that’s about the cutest little whatchmacallit! Now are those real live succulents ? They are beautiful! Hugs and blessings, Cindy
Thank you Cindy! Yes those are real live succulents. And if I stay away from them and don’t bother them at all then they grow and are happy… and so am I.
Once I got the door open, I would have made it into a birdhouse.
Dinata, that is a very good idea. But it is rather small, I don’t know if they could fit inside. If it were a bit bigger it would have been perfect.
Persistence wins the day, good for you! I agree that it looks at home among the plant trunks.The solar light on top is pure genius, the crowning touch. It always pays to seek advice when one needs help, right? The “Breen” color is perfect on the piece too! You are adventurous, and the end product is the destination well achieved. Thank-you for sharing the journey.
Ellen I so appreciate that you take time out to visit my blog and comment. That is the sweetest comment right there, That I am adventurous. I never thought of myself as that but I guess when we are talking about paint we can afford to get a little wild.
Wow….I really like that color. Putting the solar light on it was brilliant. I thought it looked great in all the locations (well except in the foyer :))
Krista it was almost ready to grow roots in the foyer.
Mary, you are very clever. It’s a real specimen vintage!
It is but in really bad shape. It was so rusted over it took me forever to open it and then I just gave up and pried it open.
Love your new coffee grinder solar light, and I think you did make a new color Breen. It looks great! It fits in perfectly among the trunks of your plant.
Michelle has a brilliant craft mind just like you! Marytone, lol !
So that is going to be my new name? Haha.
Mary, the solar light coffee maker is super cool!! I like the new color you mixed and the name you gave it, very clever. Michelle has such amazing ideas, and this is no exception! I like the light’s new home, it looks great amongst the trunks!
Keri, thank goodness Michelle came up with that otherwise I would still be sitting here twirling my thumbs.
Hi Mary, wow now that is a creative project!!! You did that coffee roaster a favor…lol!!!! Super cute! Thanks for finding me on Instagram !!! xoxoxo
Haha Christine that is so funny. It was a pretty sad sack before. It looked like it had one hundred years of rust on it.
I love the evolution that you’ve shown us!!
Because things don’t always go as planned, but it’s a learning process, right?
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Oh boy is it Jodie. And I don’t think this is going to be finished for a while yet.
Mary, you had me going. Just had to finish the story to see how it turned out. I like your Coffee Roaster Solar Light where you put it. The height of your plants was just right to show it off. “Breen” is a good choice of color for the roaster. It was a very fun post to read!
I am so happy that you read the whole thing and enjoyed it. After all there is not much to it after the painting. But I try to keep things fun around here.
How wonderful to have a husband that brings you such cool finds! And I love the metallic “breen” color it turned out and your clever solution with what to do with it. It adds so much interest to your planter.
I have to admit Rebecca he really challenges me sometimes. Thank goodness for Michelle who really came up with a great idea.
I love the colour but I am sorry to say I would loose the light,The succulent shows it off beautifully,if it was mine I would keep it inside its so beautiful and unusual.
Mary you are right it is a beauty, but where would I put it? Maybe as decoration near the fireplace? That might work. Thanks for your input, now you’ve given me food for thought.
You nailed it once again Mary. Very well done. I love the breen colour. I have been wanting to do solar light planters for three years now. Maybe next spring I will get to it.
Sometimes you have a really interesting piece of decor but it needs the right spot to shine. I think you picked well.
Its a good idea Leanna. I don’t normally do this sort of thing, preferring to light tea candles when I sit out side in the evening but this is also a great alternative.
Mary, I enjoyed this post! What a clever way to repurpose this thingamajig. LOL!
xo Dianne
It was about time Dianne, otherwise it was in danger of growing roots in the foyer.
Well how clever is your repurposed solar whatchamacallit and “Mary’s Breen” (that is it’s official name) is a beautiful color/patina.
Marie, I have to have a sense of humor about all this. No point in taking myselves too seriously especially when I’m working with something that I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with. haha !
Hahaha, I agree with Michelle and Keri, it’s really a unique piece and fits in so well with all of your repurposes! And that Marytone or Breen is really killing it!
So is that going to be my new name? Marytone?? Haha!
You beautiful, sweet, gorgeous woman. I’m so glad it worked for you and I love the Breen color you used. That’s definitely a new color, watch out Pantone, here comes Marytone. It looks lovely. As original and unique as what you are.
Michelle, I cannot thank you enough. You really got me out of a block. I tell you it had been siting out there for a year staring at me saying… “you don’t know what to do with me.. haha !”