Once the swamp happened, the frogs did too…

(Click to enlarge)

I wanted a big, strong cupboard. That I could afford, and that did NOT look like a Godrej cupboard (God bless them). Which had a key system too. So this cupboard happened.

It was made of the darndest mix of materials, even M-Seal! I taught myself about hinges and how to do them better next time (ha ha). But hell was the structure strong! Having been used and overused, lugged and crashed through cities, years, and homes, it still stands as it did when it was made. It even has wheels!

The wheels bit reminded me of a traumatic incident that happened while fixing them on. I was alone at home with my three dogs. The cupboard, having been built lying on its back in one empty room, was to now stand up on its wheels. It was heavy (all the shelves and doors and everything were solid wood). With wheels. I was excited. I lifted one end up and then put my back to it. The wheels took it speeding away to the wall, with me trying to follow as best I could with my back under it. It was too heavy to heave up once it crashed into the wall. It was too heavy for me to now gently lower the lifted end into the floor. And this heavy thing was mobile as hell. There was only one way out of it. To let it crash to the floor by slipping away from under it, and then hope for the best. Just then, my three dogs, hearing my yelps, got excited, came in to check, and decided to join the fun “fun” by going into zoomies mode. Now there were three dogs chasing each other around under me, and I couldn’t let it crash down on the floor any more. I remember I stood for a while, and then cried. The dogs finally tired, left the room, and then I let it crash. It withstood the incident.

Any way. After having finished making it, I spent some time wondering how to paint it, if at all. My ex-husband wanted to have a go at it, and he painted it over with a plastic green that both of us ultimately agreed did not go well with the cupboard. I wanted the wood to show more for one. So I spent a long time trying to get the paint completely off, and I did not succeed. So then I went a little crazy and just tried to scrape it off wherever I could. Went crazier with the result. Probably cried again (yes I do that). Then I decided to use the effect to my advantage. So it became the swamp you see in the photographs. Swamps meant frogs. The frogs happened. Crayons seemed a good medium to match the patchy swamp effect. So the frogs were crayon frogs. Learnt a new thing. That spray or long-stroke varnishing over crayon makes it dissolve and run. Didn’t need more swampy effects!!! So I slapped bits of varnish on the crayon and let it dry before varnishing the whole cupboard together.

One of the final touches, which I was very specially kicked about, was to draw the tongue of the frog around the keyhole so the hanging keys looked like an insect. (Lost the keys 😔).

Do you like it?