Bread bin transformation!

Hey everyone! Apologies for the long absence, I've been a bit busy sorting something important for the past few weeks (details to follow later) and I haven't really had a chance to do much crafting. However, I finally managed to do some this weekend!

Say hello to our old bread bin. It served us well for many years but it's time for a change.

I really didn't want to throw it away as it seemed such a waste, so I decided to re-purpose it. It was looking a bit tired, with water marks on the surface of the pine, and I wasn't sure it was much use to anyone in its current form.

First things first, I removed the fabric holding the slats of the rolling door together and then removed the slats themselves.

Next, I drilled three holes in the backboard at regular intervals. It was at this point that I noticed that the back and base boards weren't solid pine but veneered MDF (or something) and panicked slightly that I wasn't going to be able to do what I'd planned. Luckily the veneers were wood rather than plastic, so I relaxed a smidge.

Then I sanded down the entire thing to get rid of any kitchen-related build-up (we've had it for about 6 years, so it was necessary) and cleaned off any wood dust with a damp cloth.

Enter this lovely pot of exterior wood paint. I just adore this colour!

For the first coat I used a paintbrush, but I wasn't happy with the streaky result so on the second and third coats I used a craft sponge. This gave me a much smoother finish.

Finally, I filled it with soil and planted some lupins in it. Behold my bright, happy new planter!

Unfortunately it's tipping it down in this photo so the planter isn't really showing its full potential, but you get the idea. Just the thing to brighten up the patio a bit!