DIY an Apothecaries Chest for your Linen Closet

How to DIY an Apothecaries Chest for your Linen Closet. See how I converted a brand new CD holder to look like an old vintage Apothecaries chest for my linen.

Today I am going over how to DIY an Apothecaries Chest for your Linen Closet. I am so grateful to everyone that followed along on our One Room Challenge journey this season. It was truly a jam packed 6 weeks with a lot of projects. I got several messages and comments about the DIY portion of the Apothecaries cabinet from Week 4. This was such a long post on painting and organization. So I decided to divide the post and release the DIY separately, so you could see exactly how we achieved this look.

THE CHALK PAINT REFINISHING: 

This is my hack on a DIY antique Card Catalogue, because they are getting harder and harder to find. This is a CD cabinet that I found online, for just little over $250, and it is a really great option if you are looking for a card catalogue. I decided that I would add a rough coat of my favorite Amy Howard Selznick Gray chalk paint to give an antique effect, then coated it with light white antique wax  to seal it.

Leslie Dame CD Library Card File Media Cabinet

So for this project we removed all the hardware and only painted the fronts of the drawers and the outer shell of the cabinet. I actually like the way it exposes the oak color drawers inside when you open them. To me it makes it feel more like a found antique versus a new item that I purchased, considering all the card catalogues I remember in school  were always oak.

Since the popularity of card catalogues are on the rise, they are hard to find. Generally libraries only had one catalogue per library. Back in the day not every city even had a library, only the larger cities and schools. So it boils down to basic supply and demand. I am seeing an influx in a lot of replicas, or items that are similar to what I have just created right here. So if you are looking for an authentic one, make sure to do your homework first and know exactly what you are looking at.

Once my piece was dry, I waxed the chalk paint to seal it and reinstalled the hardware back to the drawers and it is already to go up for the Linen Closet Organization as my new Apothecaries Chest. These little drawers are going to be perfect for medications, cotton balls and Band Aids.

LINEN CLOSET ORGANIZATION: 

This was the before picture of our linen closet. We have the basic wire shelves which I don’t think are very attractive to look at. Even though they are very functional, allowing air circulation around your towels unlike wooden shelves. Which keeps your towels from getting that musty smell that may remind you of your grandmothers old linen closet. See it really was not her fault, just a lack of materials back then.

I developed a way to cover the ugly wire in a previous linen closet last year, by using a facia board to cover only the front rail and still keep the wire rack for air circulation. I loved the look so much that I just knew I had to replicate the look into this linen closet as well. Plus, it matches the UFP Edge Barnwood that I used on my mirrors too! We added the chalk painted card catalogue seen above, to the base of the closet, which was a pretty tight fit, but I had pre-measured so I knew it would work. We did have to remove one of the wire shelves to accommodate the height of the cabinet. It was absolutely worth it, considering how much the cabinet can hold. We actually gained space by adding this cabinet.  This will now replace all of the plastic totes seen on the top shelf, that was used to house all of our medications, first aid supplies, travel supplies, razors, and tooth bushes. We were also able to add the entire basket of nail supplies, cotton balls, q-tips, cotton pads and many other items to the cabinet.

Finally, it was time to add back in the large bulk items like our towels, shampoos, soaps and other toiletries. By eliminating the need for all the miscellaneous baskets and totes, it really streamlined the organization of this linen closet.

Now the only thing left to do is label each of the drawers with my P-Touch to soothe all my OCD requirements, LOL! I thought it would be cute to use a clear label and showcase the provided gray craft paper tags. Now with just a glance even my husband can find anything in the linen closet, no more searching for cold medicine, Neosporin, back pain patches or band aids.  The drawers are clearly marked and honestly, I am not sure how we ever survived before this cabinet. I am not sure I will ever go back to any other methods of Linen Closet organization. So take notes my fellow Marie Kondo lovers, this is an innovative organizational game changer.  If you are worried about little hands getting into to your medicine cabinet? That is an easy fix with child proof locks on the door.

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The Supply List: