Vintage Card Catalog Repurposed

I luv sharing vintage finds with you guys so much! This little treasure I found in my parent’s garage where my father was storing a bunch of tools, nails, coins, etc.. It’s a piece that he actually made many, many years ago. However, it was definitely in need of repurposing.

I luved the character of it, and my thought was to refinish it, so it would fit on a console table in our living area. I couldn’t decide between painting or staining it. Therefore, I began with sanding it all down, which definitely brightened it up.

The handles and nameplates are permanently installed and therefore not easily removed to either sand or paint. That’s when I decided I would stain it vs. paint it, and if I didn’t like the outcome, I could always tackle painting it and removing the vintage nameplates later.

Here is the vintage card catalog after sanding.

The sides were made out of plywood, unfortunately, and I also needed to add a back piece, as it was wide open in the back. I really luved the rustic look and didn’t want to lose that charm!

Hover and Swipe over photos to see details.

I added a simple pine board on the back and decided to leave the plywood on the sides as is.

I also added 4 6″ Hairpin Legs that I found on Amazon.

It definitely kept its rustic charm.

I used regular 8 X 10 white paper and printed out numbers for each brass slot that was already installed on the piece. The numbers are sized at 25 points and I printed them in bold and cut them to size. So simple!