My Curiosity Cabinet

I got this barrister bookcase at a used furniture liquidation warehouse for $20!

It was used by the U.S. PO Dept. The minute I saw it I thought, 'I love that!'.

The icky brown stain wasn't cool. It just looked like bad office furniture from way back when. Easy fix though.

It still had all the tags on it.

I had a vision for it and so I reworked it.

Here is the finished product...

I went with the weathered look. The rest of our house really isn't like this and since the nook/family/kitchen are kind of removed from the rest of the house I thought it would be a good opportunity to do something different and fun.

I distressed the piece all over to make it look old.

It, actually, is old but I wanted it to look older.

These metal tags are one of my favorite details on the piece.

Some more details of the distressing...

I filled it with strange little things that make me happy.

I've always loved herbs under cloches, I don't know why. I found that cool locker basked at an antique store in Boerne, along with the apothecary jars and the vintage botanicals.

This is one of my favorite things in there! Restoration Hardware ain't got nothin' on the real deal! It even had some kind of cocoon thing stuck to it from being wherever it had been.

Anyone who knows me, knows about my affinity for all things Alice. Notice the old tea box, the tiny chair and of course the mushrooms :-)
My beloved antique mercury apothecary bottles.

The tags in the iron holder came out of the inside of the cabinet. They are just part of whomever's filing system it was, but I like to be reminded that the piece had another life once upon a time.

This is another one of my favorite things. Yep, that's a wasp nest in there...I know that is probably weird, but I like it.

Reproduction vintage Italian apothecary bottles and a crab from my collection (I collect crabs).

Odds and ends that worked here.

Old skeleton keys...another fav. Guinea feathers and shells from our trip to St. Barths.

I hope you've enjoyed my little mini makeover.

I will show the whole nook once the light fixture comes in and is installed.

Happy Monday!