Where Has The Time Gone?

Literally!

  Just to clarify: salvaging this clock from the side of the road was not my idea.  I think this is one of the tackiest clocks I have ever seen- from the excessive carved body to the fussy gold trim... it's a clock that wants to look like an antique, but it's not.  There's a million of this style of grandfather wall clock out there, which is why this one was tossed to the curb.  What was found next to it was a greater treasure in my opinion: the small roll-top desk.  But my boyfriend decided we should take this clock, because he thought it was "kinda cool".  I really hated this clock.  It was stored in the spare bedroom, and it always seemed to get in my way.  It would fall on me occasionally then chime about 4 or 5 times to spite me.  One day I decided to store the thing in a box because my boyfriend would just not let me get rid of it.  I was storing it in a cardboard box that had originally contained kitchenware when I had a wild idea! The image above is the clock before I started ripping into it like a mad-woman...I practically gutted the thing like a fish!  I ripped about all the parts because I was turning it into...a spice shelf!

First step (after ripping apart): add shelves.  I didn't want to add a lot of additional weight to this already too heavy clock, so I used balsa.  Normally I wouldn't recommend a flimsy material such as this, but it's actually held up really nicely!  Of course, I made sure to perfectly fit the balsa shelves and tested them for sturdiness.  The only thing I actually had to go and buy for this project was the balsa ($4)...remember when I said I bought way too much spray paint for my table? Good thing I kept it! Which brings me to the next step...

Prime the hell out of it!!! At this point, I had no clue what I colors I was going to use, so I decided to make it all one color first.  I actually almost left it all white, but that's not really me- I gotta have my bright colors!

I decided to coat it in a pretty sky blue color and do the inside black.  I was originally going to do a gray inside, but it just wasn't turning out too pretty.  In fact the spray paint was not sticking to the inside of the clock nor the balsa shelves.  I ended up taking some matte acrylic paint and hand painted the interior.  I was pleased with the way it turned out.  But I wasn't really to put away the acrylic paint!  I added a dash of color to the top of the clock (I call it the crown).  It turned into an art-deco looking piece that matched my vintage kitchen! (Note the pink and black tile)

And here is the completed project! This has actually proven very useful.  Before, I had all my spices on one shelf that was almost too high up for me to reach.  Every time I would go to grab a spice, all of them would fall on my head and then into the sink.  Now I can easily find every spice, and it is at a better reaching height.  I guess I should trust my boyfriend more often when it comes to these things!