steal this deal – part 2

Hey, just a little rouge readers!

Sorry for the delay...I was working on a project over Father’s day weekend and I wanted to show you the finished piece!

You may remember one of my recent blog posts (Steal this idea --February 12^th) where I posted an idea I saw on design sponge...creating a charging station from a vintage travel case.

My mom generously gave me a travel case for the project. She was given it as part of a set of luggage for graduation in 1963. I remember that when I was younger, I used to store my Barbies and Barbie clothes in this case. Luckily, mom had it tucked away all this time.

My dad helped me out...cutting the hole for the electrical cord, cutting out the right sized pegboard and making small cleats to hold the pegboard in place.

Yesterday, I put the rest together. I spray painted the pegboard a glossy white as well as a piece of cork board. While drying, I repapered the inside of the travel case with an awesome vintage patterned paper I found at Michaels. (It took 4 only individual sheets, $0.49 each)

Next, I pulled apart two grommets from an old curtain. Using pliers, I pulled off the back metal pieces and was left with the nice front parts. Then, I glued one on either side of the hole in the back of the case to create nice, clean, and sturdy place for the power cord.

I added a card, written by mom, to show the original history and the date she received it. I pasted this behind the original mirror and then put the mirror back in place.

I glued a length of ribbon into a loop and glued that to the underside of the pegboard, with the loop off to the side. This allows me to easily lift the pegboard and access the cords and chargers that rest in the bottom of the case.

Finally, I cut the painted cork board down to a small size to fit at one end of the pegboard and glued it down. I added a couple of push pins in coordinating colors and now have a little message board that I’m sure to see as I grab my phone and head out the door.

I’m thrilled to be able to give this train case a new life. I love that it comes with some of my mom’s history and I love that it was a project my dad helped with.

It’s a perfect fit to the existing decor in my mud room...and I’ll never pick up my ipod or phone and realize my battery is dead again!

For complete step by step instructions, please see February’s blog.

See you next week.

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For more about rouge, visit www.littlered.ca or check out past blogs at www.justalittlerouge/blogspot.com