If you live in a mid-century apartment like me, you’re probably overrun with tacky little things like this baby:
I’m guessing it was added in the 70’s based on the beautiful faux wood and all the other delightful details.
(Hint: If it’s in italics, it’s sarcasm.)
Yeah, it’s fugly. Not even misused phrases like “vintage charm” can help this sucker out.
(Amazingly it still works, so that’s nothing short of miraculous.)
In my slow-going but determined attempt to makeover the foyer….
… I decided this intercom cover was something worth tackling as well.
Of course, my enthusiasm got the better of me when I tried to remove the cover and realized it was all one piece, and hard wired to the electrical supply in the wall. Eek! I’m sure I could have eventually figured out how to disconnect it, but that’s not something I was terribly interested in (playing with electricity and messing with things that still work after 40+ years, that is).
Time to move on to my not-yet-determined Plan B. (Whatever that was.)
I pondered various ideas, including hot gluing a piece of paper or fabric to the cover and cutting holes for the speaker. Even though we don’t own the apartment, I was pretty sure that I could return the cover to its 1970’s glory if necessary.
Then I remembered a silver frame that I had gotten from Dollar Tree which happened to perfectly fit the box cover. Hooray! Plan B!
I took some scrapbook paper left over from my cut-out planner and taped it to the inside of the frame. I cut out the holes for the buttons using an X-acto Knife, but not before vigorously cleaning the buttons (all this time I had thought the buttons were yellow/brown, but under all the grime, they actually proved to be white!).
I attached the frame to the box (and the adjacent wall) using 3M Velcro mounting strips (which are one of my favorite things EVER).
Here’s the finished product:
See the slits cut for the speaker?
(Forgive the less than beautiful lighting in the foyer.)
I used the X-acto knife for those as well.
And just because we all like a good side-by-side before-and-after comparison, here you go:
I would call that a major improvement. And even though it’s bedecked in flowers and is undeniably girly, Josh gave it the OK (I actually got a high five because of my handiwork).
Now trying to persuade the pizza man to walk up four flights of stairs will be more enjoyable… at least for me.
More Before-and-Afters…
The Odyssey of the Curtain Rod Bookshelf Thing
That’s great! You and Josh didn’t have the… er, pleasure of experiencing the seventies. Since I did, I can only hope all pictures of me in high school wearing a leisure suit have burned to a crisp.
That’s super cute! Great job turning something so plain and…historical into an adorable feature. You make me want one!
Thanks, Kristen!
And ten points for your sarcastic use of the word historical :)
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Wow we have a humongous one that includes a radio! I’m measuring it now, for its makeover. Great idea thanks!