before & after: locker restoration

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend I found a rusty project for myself in Beth’s junior high school.

I’m a pretty big fan of post-rust restoration, so I’m willing to put in some elbow grease to bring things back to life. Last year (on superbowl sunday, actually), I found a bank of lockers on Craiglist for $20.  They looked rusty in the listing photo, but they were twenty dollars.  Twenty dollars=price I can afford and am willing to pay.  

Here’s what they looked like, fresh off the truck:

This is before, people.  They were only $20, but they were also rough.  Also, not pictured (why did I forget to photograph this?  whhhhhhhhhhhhy?) are a bazillion stickers stuck to the inside of the lockers.  They were in a junior high school, afterall.  Many kids claimed them over the course of time, and they had the sticker stories to show it.

So, I scrubbed as much rust off as possible, and also scrapedscrapedscrapedscrapedscraped stickers out of the guts.

I discovered halfway through a rust scour the lockers are green.

I used aluminum foil and white vinegar to scrub off most of the topical rust.  I liked it because the supplies were inexpensive and I also didn’t worry about the chemicals in my cleaner.

After the rust scrub, I scraped out inside of the lockers, and gave them a good final wash.

Camera hog.  Also, water hog.  He thought wash the lockers was wash-the-dog time.  Grub loves water.

I did a soapy water wash and rinse to prep them for a clear coat of spray paint (it took two cans, in case you wondered).  While I felt like they made great progress in the rust department, I didn’t want it to rust any further nor did I want exposed rust.  I liked the fade and blotchy patina (look veeeeeeeeery carefully) so I just sealed it in.

And now they look like this…

As you can see, there was some rust I just couldn’t scrub away, so I wooed Jared into trimming the bottom out in some leftover pallet wood.  On the inside he also lined the bottom of each locker with wood.

It’s fun and handy storage!  It took quite a few hours to restore, but I’m at a point in life where I can find hours not bills:).  We keep Kobuk’s dog food, some backpacking and climbing gear, and hats and mittens inside, so it’s worked out well!

Between baskets, wood crates, and lockers, I’m pretty happy with our current walk-in-the-door organization.  

Take that, rust!