chest makeover

After the first serious attempt to tranform cheap furniture, I felt much more confident and started on another chest of drawers. I will not describe the whole procedure, because it was exactly the same:

What I will describe is how I made the finishing details. The simplest would of course be to do exactly the same again, but, firstly, I only had three more chain links, and secondly, I always want to try new methods. I am now in the mode of finding tiny details, because I think it looks neater. I am not very good at cutting, shaping and molding. It was all fine seven years ago when I was a beginner, but I have higher demands on my skills now. So I rummaged through my "Very Useful Boxes" (honestly, this is what they are called at Staples) looking for teeny-tiny things I could use for handles. What I found was an old watch bracelet someone gave me a long time ago.

 

I couldn't find any use for it, but knew one day it would come handy, and it did. It was quite a lot of work to take it apart, but the shape of the links was just right. For locks, I took the upper part of a press stud - I had to paint it to match the handles. I also found three tiny keys that fit in prefectly.

The chest is now replacing its predecessor of seven years ago. 

The problem is of course that when you replace a piece with a more elegant one, all the other, non-elegant furniture looks crude. I must make a new writing desk (and I know exactly how), and I must make a new bookcase (not sure how, but will investigare). It feels sad to throw away things that I made in the very beginning of my miniature-making; it almost feels like betrayal. But I guess this is what you do with your 1:1 life as well: successively replace old things with new.

For the moment, I put in the old chest into my antique shop roombox and arranged a row of vases on it. It serves the purpose well.