Apothecary Medicine Case Hack

For this months #30DayFlip challenge, hosted by Jeanette from Snazzy Little Things and Meredith from Arts and Classy, the goal was to come up with a hack from a department store or a pic from Pinterest.

I love the “olde tyme” type look of apothecary drawers.

For my hack, I decided to use a Pinterest pic of this really rad looking potions book/case type thing. 

I started with these little unstained drawers from the dollar store. I bought six of them at $3.00 each, and a wooden utensil holder (also from the dollar store).

 
First, I removed all the drawer handles. I then stained all the boxes and drawers with some gel stain I had on hand. I find the gel stain much easier to work with, since it doesn’t drip.

 
I spray painted the drawer pulls a metallic gold, and I even did the screws the same colour by placing them in a small plastic dish.

 
After they dried completely, I brushed the drawer pulls with a glaze I had on hand that is usually used to alter the tone of a painted wooden cabinet and/or door. I find that using this product on metal gives it an old, rusted worn look.

Before staining the wooden boxes, I also removed one of the wooden dividers with a jig saw, as I knew I wanted to add in a glass bottle that was reminiscent of a potion. To give the bottle an aged foggy look, I just shook some flour around inside the bottle.

I’m still on the fence about adding hinges or not. For now, the case can be displayed fully opened, or the sides can be angled to make it look more like a medicine/potions case.

For the skeleton diagram, I went very traditional, and printed out one of Da Vinci’s anatomy sketches. To age the paper and make it look hundreds of years old, I soaked it in strong coffee, and added a tea bag for a deeper tone on the right side of the picture. I then let it dry overnight. Once completely dry, I glued it to the back of my wooden utensil holder, which was stained the same colour as the boxes and drawers.

Total cost was $21.00. I simply love how it turned out. It almost seems like it could be used as Halloween decor too.

    It’s obviously not meant to actually open and close, but you get the general idea. Lol.

 I also think this would look cool in a home library or study displayed near stacks of old books and a bottle of scotch.

Thanks so much Jeanette and Meredith for continuing to host the #30DayFlip, and the DIY Forum on Facebook. I’m really excited to take part in next months challenge, which is all about adding colour to a space.

I’ll be back again later in the week, to show some fun pics of my daughter’s recent luau birthday party. It was so much fun to put together for her, and I’m excited to show you all. See you then everyone 🙂

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