Friday, June 3, 2011

Dairy Delivery Box Repurposed


Years ago our neighbors gave us this old milk delivery box that they had used at one time as a mailbox.  I had always INTENDED to do something with it but it ended up in a corner of the garage where it remained until just a few days ago when I looked at it and thought, “Now WHY haven’t I done something with that?”.  I gingerly pulled it out of the cobwebs and other assorted ‘things’ into the yard and slowly lifted to the lid.  To my amazement, there was an old milk bottle in there!  Both the bottle and the delivery box said, “Modern Dairy Elgin” on them. 

HAD to add a pic of my puppy Ava -- checkin' out the milk bottle :)




I cleaned the can out, hosed it, let it dry in the sun and then using wire brushes, began removing the rust and corrosion. First I primed it and then sprayed it with several coats of a beautiful turquoise spray paint which really made the words on the can stand out!

Okay, one more pic of Ava (I had to leave these out when I posted this for the contest for obvious reasons as everyone I know KNOWS how I love my Ava!)



I decided this would make a perfect little outdoor foot stool so I bought a yard of burlap, a piece of foam and some clear vinyl.  I wrapped the foam in the vinyl and hand-stitched it.  I did this in case the footstool gets wet, the foam won’t mildew. Using a rubber stamp, foam ‘brush’ and my acrylic paints, I stamped the flower image all over the burlap and then wrapped the foam with the burlap and hand stitched it in place.  I used E6000 glue to attach the cushion to the lid of the box.
With the left over burlap, I sewed a ‘liner’ for the inside of the milk box.  I cut two pieces for the front, two for the sides and one for the bottom.  I stitched the four panels together and then stitched that ‘tube’ to the bottom piece.  I covered a piece of cardboard with the extra vinyl and then wrapped and stitched burlap over that to serve as a ‘base’ inside the bag.  I hemmed the top edge and to secure the bag to the top edges inside the box, I used E6000 glue to attach tiny, high-powered magnets to the four corners (since it’s a metal can, the magnets stick right to it!). I’m not sure what I’ll ‘store’ inside but if I decide I DO want to put anything in there, it will stay nice and clean.

And here is the finished project WITH the chair I made over (couldn't post the pic of the two of them for the contest!)  Next step is to replace that awful storm door and paint our front door.  Baby steps.

22 comments:

  1. What a wonderful antique! I've never seen one! It will be great for storage! ♥

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  2. Clever make-over. We had/have? one of those boxes too. Milk was still delivered to our door when our children were babies (1970s).

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  3. That turned out super cute. Love the color you used. Thanks for linking it up to HSH!
    Sherry

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  4. That is stinkin' cute! My grandmother had a milk box just like that on her porch. Wish I had it!

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  5. Hello!! so many things to say!!
    First,thank you so much for your sweet comments on my blog today! You are wonderful!
    Second, Ava is adorable! What a love!
    Third, your milk box make over is amazing!! I can see how hard you worked on it!
    Fourth, I took off my screen door recently too!! I used to love it, but now I think it makes my house look shabby, not in a good way!! I went looking for a new one, but....

    Good luck with all of your baby steps!!
    xxDaniella

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  6. I love the milk box, I seem to remember having one as a little girl. I remember the milk man delivering milk eggs and sometimes buns to our front door. How times do change. What you have done is just adorable, using it as a foot stool is genius. It looks great with the chair. Good luck with the contest, I'm going to pop over and vote for you.

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  7. Very chic update! I've only read about milk boxes... never seen one. Great type on the side too.

    -caroline @ c.w.frosting

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  8. Hi Lauren!
    Thank you for visiting me today and becoming a follower! I love meeting new friends! I love your repurposed milk box. I remember we had one kind of like it when I was a kid. Those were the days!
    And Ava is sweet as can be! Years ago I had a blonde cocker, Sonny, who was the sweetest that looked so much like your Ava. Long eyelashes and all! Is she an American Cocker too? They have the pugged nose. I still miss him to this day.
    You have twins? I'm a twin! Identical. Are yours?
    Did you see my collage that I made for a giveaway on my blog?
    I'm so glad that you found my blog!
    Have a great rest of the weekend.
    Hugs,
    Sonya

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  9. Now this is just too cute for words!!! Love it!

    Happy PS!
    Stephanie
    Angelic Accents

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  10. It looks fantastic! Love that blue! X

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  11. The color you chose is perfect! It really makes it pop. And what a sweet little cushion!

    Jeanine

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  12. Great job Lauren! I love your creativity!

    Have a great day.
    Pam

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  13. LOL! We actually had one of these on our front stoop when I was a little kid! :) What a cute project. It turned out great.

    Have a great week!
    ~Liz

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  14. this is so cool,, great photos and such a sweet dog,,I found you from the newbie party,, I'm following your blog

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  15. Very clever idea.

    Your chair is painted very cute.

    De

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  16. HI Lauren! OH, I love how this turned out! I'm loving that color too. Your little Ava is so precious. I had a black cocker when I was a little girl and he was the sweetest little dog!! His name was Stinkie! LOL
    Thanks for the idea about a frame and making this a fun thing. Love it.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  17. How cool Lauren! Funny because in our neighborhood we actually have a milk man delivery truck, I love to see him, although, I don't do it. Thanks for sharing with my newbie party.

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  18. Saw this on one month to win it! I love the transformation! I hope you will share at my party : )

    http://www.cherishedbliss.com/2011/06/craft-and-tell-no-8-and-features.html

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  19. What a clever idea I love how you've kept the character of it with the writing.
    Popping over from WUW :)

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  20. Love the blue color and love that you repurposed this. I would never have thought of it.

    And love that you shared your creation with our readers this week too.

    Thanks for linking up at Nothing But Country Creative Creations Tuesday. You rock!!

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  21. Great stool! I love Ava, my cats are always lurking around when I am taking pictures, I have no idea why!

    Carol

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  22. I love free things! Thanks for sharing with goodbyecityhellosuburbs!

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