Lovely Lockers

When my father passed away (it will be four years come this August) he left behind many things. One of the items was a set of lockers. The lockers originally came from the machine shop that my paternal grandfather started back in the 1930's. The lockers themselves are not that old, just the machine shop.

My dad took the set of lockers from the shop and later used them in his pole barn. He kept some of his tools in them.

I decided that I would like the set of lockers. Thanks to my dear sister and her wonderful husband's manhandling of the unwieldy lockers from my dad's pole barn to their garage and then again from their garage into a moving pod headed to their Florida home, I now have them.

The Colonel and I wrestled the lockers from my sister's garage into the waiting bed of my Favorite-Father-In-Law's truck. The Colonel's truck's bed was not long enough to transport the lockers to our house (as it was, even with the longer truck, the lockers hung over the tailgate by an inch or so).

Well, finally the much desired lockers were standing in our own garage. They stood there for some time before I called around to see who I could hire to paint them for me. I had no desire to paint them myself. I called a local guy to told us to bring them in to see if he was able to do the job. The Colonel and I manhandled the lockers again, put them into the truck bed and drove over to see the man.

"No can do."

What? After nearly developing a hernia getting the lockers to him he says he cannot do it. Well, we get them back home, back into the garage, I make more phone calls to other local paint shops but no one seems to be interested enough to call back.

Our friend (and "Boss", when we dress up to give county history programs) said she would take a look at them and maybe put a bid on the job. She is an artist and had been wanting a paint spraying system, so we told her to pick one out and we would buy it for her as part of her pay for painting the lockers.

She accepted the job and we accepted her bid.

Now to pick out the color. Our friend had several shades of yellow made up for us to choose from. We also had a metal set of bookcase that our friend said she would paint for us too. We chose a blue color for the bookcase.

Now the real challenge would commence. Each time I saw our friend working on the lockers I knew any price we paid would be worth every penny.

The Colonel and I had cleaned the lockers before work was to begin. After the cleaning there were some spots that needed to be sanded down before paint could be applied.

The Colonel created a painting booth for our friend to do her work in. He had hung large pieces of plastic from the garage ceiling. It looked like a huge shower curtain.

The painting process took some time. Our friend would come and paint after her work when she could and even on some weekends. She would paint, wait for it to dry before applying another coat and finally apply a clear coat sealant. Once the lockers were done she moved onto the bookcase.

The finished lockers looked lovely! Best of all I did not have to paint them!

After letting the lockers completely dry and "off-gas" any fumes (there were very little), The Colonel and I gingerly manhandled them into the house, through the front door. I wanted to put the lockers near the front door where once I had a hall tree. The lockers would be my "closet".

When I first decided I wanted the lockers I had envisioned them in the front hall. I measured the space and measured the lockers. They would have a near perfect fit.

I like to re-purpose some items. The fact that these lockers came down to me via my granddad and dad (and my sister and her husband) makes the effort worthwhile.Still, the best part is that I did not have to paint them myself!

Thank you "Boss"!