Repurposed Goodwill Frames: Bathroom

Been in the process of helping my mother redo her condo.

It's been a few years in the making, but its slowly coming along.

In our recent trip to Goodwill, I found these white box frames that in itself

had no design purpose, but the frame had potential.

Got them for $3 a piece so figured worth a try.

 

front

back

Trying to take it apart was a little harder than I thought. They had placed tiny nails all along the side of the box to keep the back in place, but some needle nose pliers took care of that... eventually. You would think carrying a toddler around all day would give you upper body strength, but nope not the case. When finally got the back off the box, I had to get the box off the frame. It was glued to the frame and even though figured no one would see the back I still didn't want to ruin it. I tried running an exacto knife along the side of the glue- not a success, so don't ever try! So light bulb came on and I got a screw diver and popped it apart. Much better and much quicker. Don't ask why I didn't take a picture of it all taken apart... sorry. I promise I'll get better with my step-by-step pictures.

 

 

Supplies need for this project:

Frames ($3/each @ Goodwill)

Scrapbook paper (59 cents for 12x12 @ Hobby Lobby)

shells (already own)

clamps

Elmer's Glue-All (already own, but roughly $2 @ Walmart)

Elmer's Wood Glue (already own, but roughly $4 @ Lowe's)

Weldbond (already own, @ Hobby Lobby)

 

You can use any glue you have around in my opinion,

but these are the ones I had on hand and I liked how all of them worked.

 

 

On the back of the box (remember I took apart from the box frame) I used the Glue- All and brushed the back with glue. I then took a 12x12 scrapbook paper that I got from Hobby Lobby for this project, cut it to the size of the box back and laid it on the glue. I tried smoothing out the bubbles with a credit card, but ripped the corner (cannot see when I put the frame back on- yeah) so found out my fingers worked just as good and no rips! Once dried I used the wood glue and glued the back to the box frame. Then, clamped the back and frame overnight. Yes, that is a wrench being used as a clamp- don't judge :)

 

 

Next morning, I went through the shell collection my mom had and picked out the ones that I liked the most or had the most importance to my mom. Obviously because of the height of the box, it did limit my shells, but overall I think she got the ones she wanted. I then used the Weldbond glue and glued down the back of the shells. Takes an hour to bond, but bond is stronger longer you wait. After an hour I was able to turn them upside down and they held wonderfully! Next was to put the frame back on. Used wood glue and sealed the frame back to the box. Then, went old school and placed heavy books on top :) Hey, it works!

 

The final product!

 

Before & After

 

Did not take much work and only cost $7 to repurpose.

Simple, but perfect for the project in mind.

 

 

Here they are up on the walls in the bathroom. Believe it or not, the lantern was also found at the Goodwill ($3 still in its packaging) and filled with the remaining shells and hung with a cup hook from the ceiling.

 

So were did my inspiration come from...

http://www.horchow.com/p/Faux-Coral-Shadowboxes-cake/cprod89510050___/?eItemId=cprod89510050&cmCat=search&searchType=MAIN&icid=&rte=%252Fsearch.jhtml%253FNo%253D60%2526Ntt%253Dcake%2526_requestid%253D4559%2526N%253D0&ecid=HCALRQFGLnEolOWg

 

Obviously, our project looks nothing like the inspiration, but at $195 each...

I think mine worked out just fine :)

 

 Till the next inspiration...