Thursday, February 23, 2012

Medicine Chest Finally "Fixed"

I've been living in this house ''temporarily'' for 9 years now. This past Christmas I decided to call it home, and this meant doing things I never thought to do before. One of them is the medicine chest or cabinet. I don't really use it, and neither does roommate, but I am acutely aware, these days, when something isn't to my liking and doesn't make me feel I can take a nice deep sigh of inspired breath and do something about it.

Mind you this is NOT the perfect cabinet for me, it is ONLY what I could do quickly with what I had.

I was expecting some guests and the lady wanted a hot bath with salts so I went about perking up the bathroom with the intention of seeing through another's eyes, looking for that Beauty everywhere, and then I opened the medicine chest. eeew. I went to work on it immediately, it needed help. I ''knew'' I could take care of it in a couple of hours. LOL......well.....at the end of a few, it was different, but I got ''it'' done in the best way I could. Again, my criteria is that I must have everything I need on hand, or better said, to upgrade and embellish the project with what I have already, quickly and easily. And what I had was a can of Elmer's spray glue, and lots of pretty wrapping paper which is thin enough to mold around something and to stick to it. I realized quickly I wasn't going to have the pattern go in the smooth unbroken way I wanted, and the difficulty of trying to figure out how to do this project fast in between fixing up the rest of the bathroom, I quickly let go of needing to have the pattern run uniformly. I decided a mixed modpodge of patterns wasn't going to hurt anyone. I was right. :D:D:D


We've all seen this haven't we? Not thrilling in my opinion. And ''function'' without Beauty is no longer acceptable. I HAD planned on putting something around the edges, but after all the inside work I left it. So it still looks like this from the outside, only now it gets better once opened. :D




Inside is the ugly plastic used in many cabinets.

We don't use much in medicines etc, mostly aspirin. A little about the contents for fun: I make my own toothpaste which I love love love, mixed with Sole Solution and that is in the jar on the bottom shelf. I also make aspirin masks from aspirin and honey and there is a pretty little jar of honey there. The top shelf holds a pouch of lavender buds. But I no longer smell them unless they're squeezed.



Here I have begun to cut the wrapping paper and paste it on with the glue. I realized it did work, and that I'd be able to finish this project, so I took the pictures. I caution anyone wanting to try this: Gluing it without it getting stuck onto everything requires the patience of a saint with extremely dexterous and nimble fingers. Fortunately the Elmer's spray glue was forgiving and I could lift the paper off repeatedly without it tearing the paper for proper placement and alignment.




This is completed with many cuts of paper simply glued onto exposed cabinet. No seams are visible and it blended well, was easy on the eyes. I think its an improvement.





Now I have put my things back in, but why stop ''improving'' now? LOL.....Once I started to replace things back in I saw that they make the now pretty cabinet ugly, so they had to be changed, like the ugly plastic bottles of aspirin. I put them in glass jars which I love to clean, save and collect just for the purpose of having things stored in glass and looking pretty. In this case the aspirin I consume goes into the larger jar, the one I use for aspirin masks which I Highly Recommend by the way, goes into a smaller pretty one that compliments the honey I use with it. I added seashells for prettyness, and a magnolia flower. The medicines for cold/flu were removed from their packages, labels saved and simply put into a pouch.
There was room so I added the green candle I had by the tub, and a green bottle for more pretty.

The inside of the mirrored side looked too naked and bland and I have a quirky sense of appreciating with delight seeing artwork in unexpected places, just like the insides of doors and closets. So I added a print artwork I saved from a calendar and it appears as an ancient beautiful Byzantine Priestess offering a chest of medicines. I thought it was a nice touch.






The best part is that I finished this and quickly forgot about it. And when I needed to get some aspirin for a headache the next day, I was surprised and delighted at what I found inside ! LOL  How fun was that ! I had not felt like doing the few dishes in the sink my roommate had in there, but I was so charged up with the beauty I found when I opened that cabinet, I had renewed energy and cheerfully did them.

The Medicine Chest delivered the kind of ''medicine'' I prefer always.....the Joy from Beauty !


The bathroom is finished and ready for my guest and her hot Salt Bath and I have a great collection of salts, from the Dead Sea and other sea salts which I store in huge glass apothecary jars with seashells for scoops.







I am sharing this post with Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

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4 comments:

  1. What a fun project! It is nice to get one of the things off your list, isn't it?

    Hugs,
    Judy

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  2. That looks really pretty. Lovely things is the best medicine:)

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  3. What a great job and it looks wonderful...I love gluing paper to things...especially tissue paper...it just changes things so magically....Love the clothes in the previous post... especially the crocheted top...my newest obsession...:D

    Have a great weekend!! :)

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  4. much gorgeousness! well done, thats a wonderful job...i opened mine at the weekend and thought i needed to clear it out, you have inspired me to at least make a start!

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