Sherry and her husband lucked out when they stumbled upon this vintage 1930s radio in a store that was closing the very day they dropped in to browse. Though the radio components were beyond salvage, the cabinet was just crying out for some TLC in order to become a showpiece in their home.
Sherry's husband devoted hours of time and lots of elbow grease as he sanded, glued, clamped, and stained this piece to restore the finish to its original glory. He then customized the interior of the radio cabinet with shelves and racks for glasses to create a one of a kind art deco bar, ready to take center stage at any party. Though the original radio dials didn't survive, replacing that damaged panel with a small chalkboard allows the family to set the theme of any gathering.
For more step-by-step pictures of this wonderful makeover, check out Pondered Primed Perfected: Upcycled Radio Cabinet. Sherry and her husband did a great job documenting the the process of salvaging this classic piece.
Image: Photos by Sherry of Pondered Primed Perfected.
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I think we can all agree that not painting this piece was a good move.
WOW. Gorgeous!
Bravo!
Gorgeous! Perfect! Lovely! Amazing! Extraordinary! Etc etc etc!
Well done!
Now that´s what everybody should be talking about!
well done ! Great post.
Great redo!
I'm so jealous of creative people like this. Well done!!
So lovely!
I have my grandparents Hi-Fi from the 40s which I plan on converting to a bar. I hope it turns out half as well.
absolutely stunning.
Yep, it's gorgeous alright and a great way to make it useful too. Wonderful job!
If I had a frame like that, I would probably get a 7 or 8 inch android pad and install it where the radio was attached to new speakers and have a retro/modern music & more machine. :)
Beautiful! What a classy piece to entertain around, I love it.
Sweet!
That is amazing! And I like residentgeek's idea today. Maybe that is a project for next year!
I love the old radio cabinets, so much potential! This is really well done, congrats!
You can really see the amount of work he put into it - beautifully done.
Great reuse!
classy!
He did an AMAZING about of finish work on that thing. I did a similar hack from a carpentry angle in that i took two Philco 1940's radio/record players and modified them into a liquor cabinet, modern stereo respectively.
Colleen! I just got home from watching the Trailblazers scrimmage and found our cherished Radio Cabinet Mini Bar featured here on Apartment Therapy!!! What a nice surprise. Thanks so much!
now THAT's how you makeover a piece made of beautiful wood!!!!
Excellent...looks beautiful and perfect for its new use!
Totally Boss!
Great idea. There are so many defunct but beautiful pieces out there, finding a new way to use them is soooo smart. If my parents still had the old stereo cabinet from the 60's I'd gut it and put it in the living room. Christmas decoration storage! So tired of dragging that stuff from the condo basement.
VERY impressive! (The wood looks fantastic -- what gorgeous grain!)
I suspect I won't ever go to this much work to salvage something, but I truly admire those who do. I wish there were a way to match people who like to do this with pieces about to hit a landfill -- it kills me how much stuff gets buried that might have been resurrected like this.
Um WOW!
The wood looks stunning! Skillfully done!
I was hesitant to open this for fear that they would have painted it or cut it up. Awesome job!
Gorgeous! The star of the room indeed!
Genius idea and beautifully executed.
thank goodness you didn't destroy it with the renovation! i was dreading color and curtains, nice job!
Fantastic. Beautiful work!
I too like the idea of putting an Android touch screen of some sort where the chalk board is, though the resulting cabinet wouldn't be much of a mini-bar at that point.
gorgeous !
my grandmother had one of these, she turned it into a bar back in the 90s....I wish we didn't let it go