Not So Musical

I am not musical, I cannot sing or play an instrument.  So it was a little strange that I purchased an old pump organ at a rummage sale.  But I had a plan.  It was at that point that Hubby told me if I thought we were going to complete the plans I had for the organ and the restoration of the '57 Aloha before the home tour I was married to the wrong guy.  "Yeah, yeah," I thought, "we'll do both, he just doesn't know that yet."  Uhmmm, Hubby was correct about not getting to the trailer.  And he is the right guy for me.  The pump organ to liquor cabinet was a lot more labor intensive than I anticipated.  The '57 Aloha did not get restored, placed in the driveway and decorated for Christmas.  Let's just say, Hubby was right and 2014 is another year for another project.

We had no intention of ever playing the organ, so we tore into it.  First I washed it with tsp and water, the yellow paint came right off.  I don't have a picture of it when it was yellow.  Trust me, it was yellow.

When taking it apart, we found an old Kirby vacuum inside.  Someone had used the Kirby to retrofit it into an electric organ.  You just never know what you'll find when you tear into a project.

I painted the organ with Annie Sloan chalk paint(ASCP), a gray on the cutwork and a old white for the base.  The gray took some touching up and messing around to get it to show through without the white covering.

When I washed it and the maker showed up I decided to leave that piece unpainted.  

I pulled off the carpet on the pedals and the red felt behind the wood work and replaced it all with burlap. 

As always with ASCP I sanded it afterwards and waxed it.

The ivory on the keys was pretty loose so I painted the base with ASCP graphite and then glued the keys back on.  Only one was missing.  I used graphite on the scroll work too.

Hubby rebuilt the bottom to have a cupboard for liquor storage and also built the slides for glass stemware.  The piece that could be pulled down to cover the keys was taken off, and then fit back on as a counter for the bartender.

I found a frame at a garage sale with burlap on it, so I painted it using ASCP graphite, sanded so the wood came back out and then made a chalk board using the graphite paint and not waxing it so we could post drink specials on the chalkboard.

 We found a bottle opener on ebay and added it to the side.  The handle makes for a nice towel rack.

I wrote "making spirits bright" on the chalkboard.  I was inspired by Dean Martin's Making Spirits Bright Christmas album cover.

Our record player was set up with vintage barware.

I love the little match boxes that I found at a garage sale.  Chris at Red Gate Farm used match boxes to make an Advent calendar.

Our swizzle stick collection is growing and makes for good conversation starter when guests are served.

Before we added a master suite to the house this little sitting room was our bedroom.  The furniture was recovered by our friend, Gerrit.  I had it in my apartment when I was single.  Hubby proposed to me while we were sitting on the love seat.

I had fun painting the printer's drawer and filling it with treasures.  There is room for more.

Hubby and I enjoy this little room to put our feet up, have a drink and visit.

I hope you enjoyed it too.
And if you have enough drinks, you'll think you can sing.
I kid.