One day, a guy was driving home and noticed a junked vintage speaker on the side of the road.
Not wanting to let this relic of the past go to waste, he loaded it up into this car, figuring he’d think of something to do with it. (Wouldn’t you have done the same?)
Little did he know that just a short time later, with a few ingenious ideas and a little elbow grease, that he’d create the liquor cabinet of our dreams. See for yourself the step-by-step destruction and resurrection of this speaker of the past, and get inspired to make your own amazing DIY project happen!
Heavy due to the old speaker and amp inside, it was tremendously difficult to load into the car.
Getting it home and seeing it in the full light of day, he noticed lots of scratches and cracks in the varnish.
It clearly hadn’t functioned in a long time.
Oddly enough, however, the speaker controls in the drawer on top seemed to function.
At least the frequency range was still operable.
Turning it around, he saw that the back was completely exposed. The cabinet used to house a record player, but it was missing.
Understanding everything within it, he started to completely gut the entire unit.
You’re history, History!
He did salvage some pieces of the unit.
The vintage light bulbs are especially cool.
Afterwards, he used a chemical stripper to remove all the old varnish.
“This was by far the most difficult part. That stuff is toxic and the tiniest splash on my skin burned like crazy. I had to put several coats to scrape everything off.”
After stripping the piece of varnish, it was time to sand the whole unit down.
Later, he applied a coat of stain and several coats of polyurethane varnish.
He then went over it several times with a high-grit sandpaper and steel wool to smooth everything out.
Next, he took the drawer on top and gave it a new bottom, covering it in red felt.
“I used felt lined wood strips for the bottom and sides and glued them in place. Makes a perfect drawer for wine openers and utensils.”
The result is truly something to behold.
Complete with a Don Draper wood cutout, this DIY project is certainly a rousing success!
Don Draper would be proud.
Given a little bit of hard work, this speaker gets to have a new life as the next best thing…a liquor cabinet.