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?
If you like what you see, share it with your friends, or save it on Pinterest. If you really like what you see subscribe to my blog and get my adventures twice a week in your mailbox.
Disclosure: The items below are affiliate links and link to Amazon.com. If you purchase any of these products through the links, I receive a small commission, that way I can continue to provide you with lovely content. There is no extra charge to you for purchasing through my affiliate links.
You may also like:
<< Easy Fall Wreath HOME Sweet Inspiration Link Party #26 >>
This blog is for entertainment purposes only; my DIY tutorials are not professional advice. Read my full disclaimer here.
I love it when I get your comments and I will reply to them. Please do not add a hyperlink to your comment, otherwise we cannot publish it.
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.
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?
What a project! And such brilliant transformation.
Amalia
xo
Amalia thank you. It was more what to do with it that was the problem.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mary, I love the coffee roaster it looks amazing! I especially love the color you chose! xo
I’m going to copyright it. “wink”
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.
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.