A Hacksaw is NOT your Friend

This post is about my icebox.  Yes, an entire post about a little metal box that holds ice and keeps your vegetables cool.  Who’d thunk that such a small and unassuming thing such as an icebox would give me such trouble?

Well, it did.

 

First, I’d like to start off with a big “What were they thinking???!!”  The icebox was screwed into the lower cabinet with 12, count them, 12 screws on the hinge side.  I’m not sure why and can only assume that the “one on each corner” approach just didn’t seem, practical, or enough, or…I don’t know.

“How many screws on the other side?” you may ask.  Two.  Why?  I don’t know. 

Next, I wanted to take the door off so I could paint it or do whatever creative treatment I decided on.  The screws in the door hinge wouldn’t unscrew, they were rusted on.  So, I did what any other semi normal woman would do…I cut them off with a hacksaw.  Oops.  Um…now how do I get the door back on? 

 

Sigh…

The door had a bit of rust on it and I didn’t want to do what everyone else did and just paint it so….I got some dark red, off white, and dark blue scrap book paper and decoupaged the door.  I thought it looked kinda’ cool.  Ok, pretty cool.  Um, maybe cool?
 

My friend who is an interior design student said “It looks like a 4^th grade art project went very very wrong.”

Sigh…

Maybe I needed a new icebox? So, I found one on craigslist for $15.  I brought it home and TA DA!!..it didn’t fit and no matter how much I wanted it to…it didn’t fit.

Sigh…

So I painted the icebox door after all.  Painting over the decoupage gave it a fun and unexpected texture.  I like fun.  I like unexpected texture.  Score!  Now back to my original quandary, how do I get the door back on?

I went to a Fastenal store which carries, yep, all kinds of fasteners.  I took the icebox and the door with me.  They were closed but…drum roll…the Do It Hardware Center nearby was OPEN!!  I took it in and handed the box and the door to a very curious but helpful owner / gentleman who spent the next 45 minutes with clamps, and hammers, and going back and forth from the store to the front counter, trying various screws and post thingies, re-attaching the door.

When he was all done he said “That’ll be $2.75” 

Yeah!!

I bought some duct insulation and replaced the rotted cardboard that WAS the icebox's insulation, wiped the inside again with bleach and water and screwed it back into the cabinet.   The 12 screws on the hinge side look pretty weird but I bet you wouldn’t notice if I didn’t tell you. (or ask you to take it out)  Overall it looks pretty great and is a nice focal point for the entry.

 

The best part of this story is that I sold the other icebox on craigslist for $20!

Nothing to sigh about there….