Early American Moroccan...

Sometimes laziness is the mother of invention.

I wanted a chest of drawers and shelves for the kitchen.  One that would fit between the living room door and the front of the room.

I didn't really want to start something from scratch.  I wasn't in the mood for all of that measuring and cutting...

So, I turned to my stash of House of Miniatures kits.  I don't know if you remember when I found a stash at the antique store, for two dollars each, several years ago.  I bought all that they had.


From chest on chest to small chest and shelving.

I went looking and there are a lot of Moroccan painted chests and shelving units in the real world.  Lots of examples to draw from...

I put together the top of the chest as it was supposed to be.  Then I cut down the base/leg pieces to fit that.

I did a bit of carving on that part to make it look not so Early American and more Moroccan.

Then I had to decide how to go about making the shelves from the bottom half.

I used the back and the sides of the bottom unit, the top and one of the drawer dividers.  I sketched out a plan for the sides.  Cut them on the scroll saw.  Then I cut down and beveled the shelf to fit.

I cut a fancy bottom for the back, drilled three holes with the Dremel Mity Mite.  I cut down three fancy toothpicks for pegs.  I did a little carving on the sides. Glued it together and still had a few pieces left over...Maybe some small shelves somewhere.

Again, I can't tell you the exact color of the paint.  I mixed until I got something that I liked.

I will be doing some fancy painting on both pieces so there is still a lot of work ahead.

I will probably antique the whole thing and rough it up a bit before I am done also.  This is just a base coat.

Anyway, that's the story so far... And I'm sticking with it.

We haven't heard from Daisy yet today.  I do hope that she doesn't change her mind and want Early American now...  Oh well.  If she does, there's a lot more of that where this came from...

See you tomorrow.