A couple of weeks ago I posted this photo on instagram…

Gross.  I was in a dungeon rescuing this little piece of American history.  Is that too dramatic?

I posted for feedback on whether or not I should strip it back to its original state – solid oak and brass pulls.  Finding a card catalog has been on my wanted list for quite some time!

According to my very official poll, most people liked the color.

And while I was on vacation in New Orleans, my antique factory shoe cart sold which was serving as a display piece.  That’s a good problem to have but it did leave me scrambling a bit this week!

I scrubbed away the filth on the card catalog keeping the history in tact and revealing the nice blue-green paint.  I think it makes for a really unique milk paint display with great patina.

The history is also pretty cool.  It is a turn of the century 20 drawer card catalog from Penton Kelly Co. which was located in downtown Philadelphia.  It was a printing firm and this catalog seemed to house client information.

Ultimately I decided not to strip it.  I needed to turn it around quickly and figured I’d leave the restoration project out there should someone want to take it on!  Painted pieces are all the rage right now anyway, right?

This sucker is heavy!  You can see that solid oak peeking out.  Each side of the cabinet has a 4 pane panel.

I just love these old pulls.  Check out the brass showing through.  I wonder why someone painted over the brass.  I guess we’ll be asking ourselves this same thing in the future about everything that is currently being painted.   Gotta love trends!

This guy is up for sale and display at Serendipity in Doylestown.

I am trying something new with my watermark.  I always thought it would be fabulous to have my logo instead of text but I’m not sure I like it!  Thoughts?

Back to preparing for Sunday’s Clover Market…