The cabinet size is perfect; it took me forever to find the right one for the right price. Finally I saw it on Craig’s List this past week.
I contacted the seller, convinced my brother to go with me on a very cold, icy Saturday morning and help me to haul it.
He was outside on the truck waiting as I was inside this super cold garage negotiating with the lady. I saw some missing little things and asked for a discount. However, I didn’t have my negotiating hat on that morning as I only had the exact amount. She gave me a 15 dollars discount but I didn’t have change. After like 15 minutes of negotiation inside the garage, my little brother that always assume the worse, came knocking in as he thought I was being killed by another Craig’s list killer LOL. He didn’t have change either, so he said, give the lady the money and let’s get out of here. So I paid full price. Even though there was not discount, I was still very happy with the purchase and could not wait to go home and start working on the project, especially because I would have time to keep going till I finish since Monday was a holiday.
The cabinet has a sticker inside; it was manufactured by a company called Northern Furniture Company Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
I did a little research online and found out that the following about the company:
Northern Furniture Company
Furniture with the Northern Furniture Company brand name was manufactured in Sheboygan between the years 1904 and 1949. The company was originally founded by George B. Mattoon in 1881. The plant grew from a modest start until by 1900 it covered twelve acres and employed some 800 workers. This enterprise was known as the Mattoon Manufacturing Company until the founder's death in 1904. The name was then changed to the Northern Furniture Company. In 1916 the firm was bought by the Reiss interests (of the C. Reiss Coal Company, a prominent name in Wisconsin). The company continued to manufacture tables, desks, bookcases and buffets apparently through 1949. At that time the name was changed to R-Way Furniture.
Last year my Mom gave some pieces of China from when she got married and some that were my Grandma’s and ever since I wanted a cabinet with glass doors to be able to display those unreplaceable family heirlooms. I dragged them on my luggage thousands of miles from Brazil. After almost 2 days of traveling and 4 flights they made it in one piece.
I don’t have any special formula. I have the idea of what I want to do and how it should look in my head and simply make that idea happen. I just want to create a one-of-a-kind piece that makes me smile when I look at it.
Weekends like this one when I move full force with one project, there’s no time for beauty treatments, no mani/pedi, no special hair dos nothing. Usually I put my old Guess Jeans overalls and some shirt I only using for working in projects. There’s a Lowe’s by my house, and sometimes I run out of something for the project and have no time to change. I walk in with the overalls and all and the looks I get LOL.
This past Saturday, there I was looking for a small hand saw and the look on this old guy’s face when he asked me: Can I help you to make a decision young lady?
Usually I work on my little garage but since it was sooooooo cold and it was such a small piece I moved the furniture around, cover the floors and did it on my living room.
Project Details:
One foot was broken, so instead of trying to find pieces to match the ones that was missing from the left foot, I broke the right foot to make them match and moved on.
One of the shelves was tilted in a weird way and did not want to go down where it’s supposed to be. I grabbed a hammer and showed it who is the boss :)
One of the wooden sticks that hold the glass in place was bent. I took it out and straighten it (me and a hammer again) and reinstalled really quickly.
After that I cleaned the whole piece with a dump rag, sanded, dusted and started with the painting.
Then was the little details, where I want to distress a little, make darker etc. etc.
There’s a drawer on the bottom of the cabinet that I painted Tiffany blue and will store my silver plate silverware set box.
And after all the painting was done applied a generous coat of wood wax and had my perfect little cabinet.
The total restoration process took me about 18 hours.
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE This e-mail message and any attachments are only for the use of the intended recipient and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, distribution or other use of this e-mail message or attachments is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail message in error, please delete and notify the sender immediately. Thank you.
