Upcycled Metal Locker

When we took our camper to my Dad's house for storage last fall he showed me a locker he had in his shed. He said it was from the country school he went to. I loved it and told him if he ever wanted to  get rid of it I would take it.
Well this spring when we went to pick up the camper he had the locker sitting out and said I should take it. I was excited to have it.

Dad said it came from the only school he ever went to. A Country School on Twin Lakes Road in  Faribault. For those of you that don't remember, country schools use to be for students that lived in the country and did not go into town to the big schools. They usually had all the grades together in one room. My Dad went there for 8 years. He then went to work on the farm. Once he joined the Army he got his GED. He took his country school education and went on to build his own very successful construction business. He was well known in the community for his exceptional brick work. When he retired he had people calling him for years trying to get him to just do one more job for them.

The locker is around 70 years old. He said the school house sat empty for a long time and then they auctioned everything off in it. He remembered using the locker so he bought it up. The school house was bought and remodeled into a house.

I loved the look of the locker with all its rust and peeling paint. Of course I could not have all that paint and rust falling off in my house so I had to do something to it. I did a little research and discovered that you can seal rust in with a product called Penetrol. 

So I took a wire brush and brushed off all the loose rust and paint. I got the Penetrol at Menards and then went to work. It was very easy to apply. I just used a small paint roller and applied it. Once it dried I was done. I love the way it looks! 

 

I now have a little piece of my Dad's history in my house. Over the weekend Dad was at my house so I got to show it to him. He got a big smile on his face and was very pleased with it. He said it had sat in his shed for years and was glad to see it being used again. He said it looked perfect sitting on my porch. 

Later Sharon